While Others Worked Toward Healing
by Lux's Sister
Summary: Some just chafed the wound. The Onderon con men have taken another job, seeking to right wrongs...and pay their bills. But the ones that are supposed to be easy never are: the con men's actions have consequences, consequences which just might bite them in the rear for the first time. [While Others #8]
1. The Refresher Door of Doom

**WHILE OTHERS WORKED TOWARD HEALING**

 **by Lux's Sister**

 **CAST OF CHARACTERS _(Italics indicate an OC)_**

 **Lux and Ahsoka Bonteri**

 **Steela and Saw Gerrera**

 **Captain Rex**

 **Mina Bonteri**

 **former King Tandin of Onderon**

 **Hutch St. James**

 _ **Hero St. James - the rebel who yelled "Look!", Hero is a woman with no verbal filter**_

 _ **Sierra Bonteri - the group's grifter and the youngest Bonter child, now 18 years old**_

 _ **Tav and Kiara Bonteri - Lux and Ahsoka's children, now 3 years and 2 months old respectively**_

 **Katooni** and _**Molly** **St. James - Hutch and Hero's daughters, now 14 years and 11 months old respectively**_

 **And now, I present the story.  
**

 **AHSOKA**

In a rare immediate-family-only moment, it's just me, Lux, and the kids in the common room.

Lux sits on the couch rocking two-month-old Kiara, gently stroking the montral buds on the top of her head to soothe her.

I've just finished putting a dish of mac and cheese in front of Tav when a mortal scream comes from the refresher.

Lux looks over at us. "Should I investigate that?"

"I don't sense actual danger, but it might be a good idea. I would do it, but I'm busy at the moment." I hand Tav a spoon. "Here you go, Tav. One macaroni and cheese for your late lunch."

Tav dubiously pokes the macaroni with his spoon. "This isn't the way Grandma makes it."

"It's Grandma's recipe," I reply. _Come on Tav, you gulp down anything Mina makes…_

"I like when Grandma makes it better."

 _And there it is._ Never mind that Mina actually did cook this mac and cheese, and I scooped it out of a leftovers container in our fridge and warmed it up for him. In Tav's little mind, if Mina didn't serve it to him then she didn't make it.

Tav frowns at the macaroni and cheese. "Yucky mac and cheese."

"You need to eat lunch."

"Kiara doesn't!"

"Kiara's a baby. She eats on a different schedule," I explain. "Since you're a big boy, you need to eat enough to grow."

"Yucky…"

I raise an eye marking at Lux.

"Tav, we're going to have a talk after I check on whatever happened in the refresher," he says, resting Kiara against his shoulder. "Let's go for a walk, sweetheart."

He doesn't have to. The door slams open and Saw comes in, soaking wet and looking very, very disturbed.

Lux sticks his neck out. "Saw, were you just in the refresher?"

"Bonteri, we need a new ship."

In that instant a giant red carpet of opportunity rolls out in front of me. Has Saw just thrown me a bone in one of Lux's and my recent marital disagreements? By the force, I think he has! "We really do, Lux."

"What?" Lux blinks. "No we don't. This ship is great!"

Saw gives him a withering look. "We literally call this thing _Piece of Crap."_

I gesture to Kiara, napping on Lux's shoulder. "Where's she going to sleep when she gets older? She and Molly are too little to share with the single ladies."

"Well," Lux sputters. "W-we can move her and Molly into Tandin's room -."

"You mean Tandin's closet," I correct him.

"And where's Tandin gonna sleep? The six inches of floor space between Rex's and my beds? The tub? Oh, and speaking of that, I've had enough of our fresher door that doesn't lock. Katooni and I were both horribly scarred a few minutes ago."

My other eye marking goes up. "How did that happen?"

"Katooni, well," he shuffles his feet. "She walked in on me while I was in the shower."

…

According to Saw, the situation started off normally. He likes to listen to music in the shower, so he grabbed our music player, set it up, and hopped in the shower to wash.

In his hurry to get to the shower, he says, he completely forgot that Katooni's music chip was still in the port. He didn't want to get out of the shower to fetch his own, so he decided to listen to hers this once.

Something to know about Katooni's music: every song on her music chip is an earworm. I can't count how many times Steela and Sierra have threatened to destroy it if she doesn't use headphones. Three songs in, and Saw was dancing as he washed his hair, forming his tresses into a bona fide shower Mohawk.

Before I could ask what he was doing making a shower Mohawk, he launched into the next part of the story: about halfway through the shower Mohawk's creation, Katooni opened the refresher door.

In the shower stood Saw. Scrubbing his armpits and swaying to the tune of catchy pop music. Shower curtain pulled back so he could hear the music. Wearing nothing but a shower Mohawk.

"AAAAAAA!"

Saw's eyes popped open and he noticed he was no longer alone. "AAAAAA!"

Katooni was too frozen by the horrible picture to move. All she could do was scream over the music.

"Get out of the fresher!" Saw yelled, grabbing the shower curtain and using it to cover himself, Shower Mohawk still horrendously intact.

Katooni turned on her heel and ran, slamming the door behind her.

…

I cast a look at Lux.

"You have to admit that's an actual problem."

"We can buy a lock," Lux says weakly.

"Lux, this ship worked we were just a bunch of couples. But since then, we've added four kids. I like it here too, but…" I shrug. "We need more room."

Saw looks first at me, then at Lux.

"Bonteri, how about you go over to the St. Jameses and bring this up with Hutch and Hero?" he suggests. "Because I'm sure that will go over very, very well."

After that suggestion, it takes about two seconds for Lux to deflate.

"Okay," he says forlornly. "I guess we could use some more bunks, but we can't afford something like a new ship!"

"We can if we take another job."

"Ahsoka, it's only been two months since we went on hiatus for Kiara's birth."

"And Steela's fingers are already getting itchy. She tried to pickpocket me yesterday. Said she needed practice," Saw scoffs. "Sierra and Katooni have probably been robbed blind."

"Shouldn't we wait just a little longer?" he wheedles.

"No rest for the weary," I chirp and strut over to Hutch's computer to check the multiple files for prospective jobs he compiled. Steela's not the only one going nuts from boredom. "Let's see who's next on Hutch's sin list. Who's embezzling, who's funneling, and who's just plan – oh, this one's good."

Saw cranes his neck. "Who is it?"

"I'll ask Hutch for the details," I say sweetly, grabbing the holodisk. "Lux, mind talking to Tav about that macaroni and cheese?"

Lux's face falls, and I feel a twinge of pity. We have to move, we have to take a job, and he completely forgot about Tav. But honestly, I have been in Macaroni and Cheese Hell, PB&J Hell, and Chicken Nugget Hell, for weeks. It's about time Lux took a turn dealing with his son at lunchtime.

…

On my way to go ask Hutch about the potential mark, I make absolutely certain that there's no way we can back out of the job or getting a new ship.

"Hey Sierra."

"Yeah?"

"We're moving."

Sierra looks up from her holobook. "We are?" I nod. "But how are we going to pay for it?"

I wave the holodisk at her. "I just have to talk to Hutch, but if everything checks out then we have a job."

She drops her holobook, scrambles across her side of the room and yanks out her blue alias binder. "I'm on it, Ahsoka. Thanks for letting me know. _Hey Steela!"_

So far, the plan's working perfectly.

Steela takes out her headphones and stops picking the small lock in her hands. "What is it?"

"We're getting a new ship!"

"We are? Does that mean I'm finally going to get some privacy?"

"By that, you mean your own room?" I shake my head. "You're probably out of luck there."

"Stuck with me," Sierra gloats and starts flipping through the alias binder.

"Well I get the better bunk next time," Steela negotiates and stretches. "Ahsoka, when are we moving and where are the credits coming from?"

"You'd better get your rigs together, because we're taking a job."

It takes a second for it to sink in, but when it does Steela tosses the lock onto her nightstand and slides her bag of rigs out from under the bed. "Finally! For a while I thought Lux was going to retire us."

"Not on my watch." We can't even take two months off without going stir-crazy, I don't know how we would begin to handle full-blown retirement. "You two get ready; I need to go talk to Hutch and Hero."

"Oh, that'll be a trip," Steela rolls her eyes. "Did you hear about what happened in the refresher this morning? On our next ship, we really need a locking door."

 **LUX**

"Our mark, for the job we are _so_ taking, is Abitha Frey."

Hutch twirls the remote in his hands and considers each of us in turn. Sierra, Saw, and Steela are practically vibrating from excitement, Tandin and Mom are sitting quietly but with rapt attention, Rex is at attention, and Hero's devoting all her attention to eleven-month-old Molly.

Ahsoka, for her part, smiles smugly at me. _Some things never change._

"She's a board member for the Imperial Academies in the Core," Hutch continues. "She mainly oversees the one on Kuat, given it's her homeworld, but she has significant leverage over everything in the Core."

"That's not a crime," Steela points out. "Why pick her over the Drive Yards of Kuat? They're all Imperial run and I bet anything we could make a mint over there."

"Here's why. In the industrious spirit of Kuat, Frey cuts corners to shave cred off the school's expenses. The weird thing is that the extra money doesn't go back to the Empire. It just kinda falls off the grid."

"Have you checked her payroll? If she's giving herself raises and/or bonuses, then she keeps all the dirty money within the sphere of the budget. It's like the ultimate money laundering." Sierra suggests.

Hutch shakes his head. "My best guess? She liquidated it and she's got it in a vault somewhere. The problem is figuring out which transactions she used to get it into credit form, because so far they all look legit."

"Legitimate business is one of the best places to hide dirty money," I muse.

"Yeah, and the money's dirty in more ways than one. These corners she's cutting really can't be cut: it's the stuff for the cadets. She's skipping on medical checkups, school supplies, even basic utilities for the barracks. These kids can't learn in a place like that, so they score lower. And instead of fixing what actually needs to be fixed, Frey just throws more tests at them. The Empire isn't going to be good to them if they flunk out. She's basically ruining their lives."

"If she's so bad, then how does she still have a job?" Saw asks. "In the Royal Militia, things like that never would have slid."

"Oh, it's the usual runaround. She keeps everything _just_ this side of legal, cleans up right before inspections, uses shell companies for things she's supposed to be ordering that just send the money straight into the void. And you can forget about the teachers; she fires anybody who tries to stick up for the kids. Heck, she got rid of one yesterday."

"Wow, that's a shining example of care for one's charges."

"Touché. Since we need some quick and easy cred, and since my fatherly instincts are compelling me to chuck this woman into a black hole, then she's out best bet."

"And Kuat has plenty of ships to buy. We could do the job, get the new one, and sell _Piece of Crap_ all in one fell swoop," Ahsoka announces. "Lux, thoughts?"

I sigh. I don't want to leave _Piece of Crap,_ and I'm still prickly over the topic, but if I don't give in now my crew just might commit mutiny and do it anyway.

And as an added plus, I'm starting to get a little angry at Abitha Frey's life-ruining scheme.

"I guess we can do it for the kids," I agree, the opportunity for a joke striking at the perfect time. "But it's only a short job, and no sudden child acquisitions!"

Rex stops. "What makes you say that?"

I cross my arms and smirk at him. "Well, since you and Steela are now officially together, then I just wanted to make sure that you two didn't get any ideas if you saw a really cute orphaned cadet. It's a bit early to be having kids."

The entire room bursts out laughing, and Rex turns bright, bright red.

"Lux, _no!"_

Exactly one second later, Steela nails me in the face with a pillow.

 **The vote I proposed at the end of Lost Lamb has come back with a unanimous result: more While Others. And to that, I give you While Others number eight!**

 **Unlike the others, this story has two parts: Part One, which should seem familiar, as well as Part Two, which is a little bit more humorous in the style of WOFS and WOFTD. I'd like you to know that it was a blast writing that part especially.  
**

 **Thank you to everyone who voted, and please review!**

 **Until next time,**

 **LS**


	2. From Cradle to Con Game

**CHAPTER TWO – FROM CRADLE TO CON GAME**

 **LUX**

We have a crew. We have a motive. We have enough fuel in our fuel tank to get to Kuat.

But, as Ahsoka points out, we don't have a scam.

"We don't need a scam," Saw says. "If the money's liquidated, then all we have to do is have Steela crack the safe."

"That would be a great idea if we knew where the money was," Steela replies. "It could be at the school, at her home, she could have buried it in the ground for all we know. Which means, we need her to tell us where it is."

"Let's start with the alias; that's always worked in the past." Sierra flips through her folder. "Lux, do we want clean-cut or criminal?"

"Clean-cut. This woman won't let ice queens in the Academy." Also, watching Sierra play crime ladies is a little disturbing. She's just a little too good at the "cutthroat, imperious woman with a heart of ice" character, so much that I've worried a few times that she's dipping too far into herself for the performance. The clean-cut aliases are the Sierra we all know and love: the clever, charming young woman who loves to work with people.

She flips to the first section of her binder and starts to comb through the portfolios. "All right, we have marketing consultants, businesswomen, attorneys, activists…"

"Try human resources. Are there any we can alter to fit the Imperial Academy?"

Sierra thumbs through her sections, then nods. "One."

"Okay, good. We'll go with that one. Saw, hang around the school until we can find the money. Hero, surveillance. Steela and Rex, check out the banks or any companies that could be involved in credit laundering with or without their knowledge. Hutch, I need you to find that money. Ahsoka, you're on shopping duty with me until it's time to go, then I'm the Confederate. I think it's time for us to run the Mandalorian Go-Round."

Hutch raises an eyebrow. "We need an inside man to run the Mandalorian Go-Round."

I've already thought of that. "She just fired a teacher, didn't she? We can take her place."

"But here's the thing: If Sierra's grifting, Ahsoka's shopping, Hutch is hacking, you're the Confederate, Hero's on surveillance, and Steela and I are going after the money, they who's going to be the teacher?" Rex asks.

"Me."

Everyone turns. There's Mom, sitting serenely on the couch with a determined expression on her face.

"Mom?" I ask in disbelief.

"Why not?" She asks. "I raised two children, I watch my grandchildren, and I've practically adopted almost everyone in his room. I can pose as a teacher for a while."

"B-But who'll watch the kids?" Hero sputters.

"Tandin, of course."

Tandin almost swallows an ice cube from his glass. "Me?"

"Yes, you," Mom confirms. "You can take care of four kids for a few hours. Kiara and Molly will sleep most of the time and Katooni's old enough to help you with some of them if you need her."

"What about Tav?" he asks, looking slightly nervous.

"Oh, he'll be great. Just play some games and cook him whatever for lunch," Ahsoka lies. Hope Tandin knows how to make chicken nuggets. "You'll do fine Tandin, really. We won't be gone long anyway."

"Of course," Tandin says weakly.

Steela snickers. "You always said you wished you were around Saw and I as babies. Are you recanting that?"

"Don't be silly, Steela" He straightens up. "I'll do it, and we'll all have a lovely time. Won't we, Tav and Katooni?"

Tav and Katooni look at each other.

"Oh, for sure." Katooni says a little too innocently.

Mom clears her throat. "I'm sure you have an alias for me, Hutch."

Hutch swallows hard. "Yeah Mina! Yeah, I've got one right here."

Mom tents her fingers. "Good. Now Lux, besides teaching the cadets, what's my job?"

Sierra butts in. "I'll be doing all the heavy lifting, and Lux and I will help you when the mark comes in. Mainly, you'll be taking over the old teacher's job."

"Right," I give her a look. "And we'll adjust the dialogue for the mark's present state."

"Doesn't sound terribly difficult," Mom says. "Hutch, send me the alias as soon as possible so I can look it over."

Hutch's fingers fly madly over the keyboard. "I'm on it right now, Mina. I'll have it over to you in just a few minutes."

 _Anyone can tell you're just throwing an alias together as fast as you can, Hutch._ "All right, everyone back to their rooms and get ready. We're going to steal an Imperial Academy."

 **STEELA**

"That's a new level of low."

"What's a new level of low?" Ahsoka asks, innocently putting on eyeliner in my mirror.

"Telling Tandin he can feed Tav whatever he wants without a warning that the kid lives off chicken nuggets," I say. "Are you infusing those things with vegetables or something?"

Ahsoka pauses. "That's a good idea, actually. But no, apparently there is at least some nutritional value to chicken nuggets."

"At this age, what can you do?" I shrug. "He'll grow out of it and start eating other things."

"Yeah, if Mina cooks them," she scoffs. "If Mina made it, then it's delicious. If I put it in front of him, then he starts asking for chicken nuggets."

"He gets it honest. Lux and I were both like that as kids," Sierra says as she changes out the ID in her wallet.

Ahsoka sighs. "I just hope he outgrows it soon. Some days I think if I see one more nugget, I'll go insane."

"All you can do is pray." I grab my comb and scope out the best strategy for getting some space at the mirror, but it's no use. With Ahsoka already there and Sierra en route with her makeup brushes, I'd better take my chances somewhere else.

Besides my room there's only one mirror on the ship: the one above the sink in the refresher. As luck would have it as I come down the hall, the door is open.

Rex stands at the sink, shaving.

"Steela, do you need something?"

"Can I share the mirror to do my hair?" I ask. It isn't an uncommon request in our now-cramped ship.

Rex nods and moves over. I set my hair ties on one half of the sink and start working the comb through my hair.

"What do you think of the job?" I ask. "I don't know about the others, but you and I are basically on a wild credit chase."

"It's nothing worse than having you pretend to be dead," he announces. "You and Sierra both performed a little too well for my taste."

"That's one of the oldest cons in the book, the Rion Wake-up Call." I wince as the comb catches on a tangle. "It's a classic!"

He gives me a sideways look. "Speaking of the moons of Rion…"

 _Oh, you smooth captain. Two can play at this game._ "Their beaches aren't the best, but I wouldn't mind going back to Pancake World. Those pancakes were so good." A handful of hair slips out of my grasp. "Can you hold this for me?"

Rex sets his razor down, rinses the shaving cream from his hands, and holds my hair back so I can grab the elastics. Suddenly his grip tightens and he blurts out: "Have you ever thought about getting married?"

Well, if that didn't come about left field.

"Getting married in general, or us getting married?" I ask after a long silence.

Rex pauses. "Both."

For a second I'm struck with wild panic. "Rex, are you trying to _propose_ to me?"

"No, no!" Rex's eyes widen. "No, I'm not proposing anything. I just wanted to know."

I fumble to grab the elastic and secure my hair behind my head. "I think about it, sure. But it's only been a few months since Rion and," I sigh. "Were we even official between Rion and that job that ended with me in Senator Organa's Med Bay?"

He releases my hair and steps back to his side of the sink. "You kissed me after Rion."

Uh-oh, I sense this conversation quickly sliding out of control. "I know I did, but afterward I was worried that I'd confused you and we didn't say anything until the Med Bay, so I wasn't sure."

Rex picks up his razor again. "On Kamino, they never told us about dating, and this is my first time. I might need some advice."

"All right." I think it over for a few minutes while he goes back to his shaving. "Let's start with having a frank conversation when we want to take this to the next level, so I don't think that you're trying to propose to me in the refresher."

Rex smiles. "Affirmative, General Gerrera."

"Right. And – did you just call me General Gerrera?"

He whistles as he shaves.

"You did!" I grab one of my hair elastics and pull it back like a slingshot, ready to let it _snap_ against him. "Don't you think you're getting away with it!"

Rex grabs his shaving cream and points it at me. "I came prepared."

If he presses the top of the can, I'm going to be covered in shaving cream. "Don't you dare."

"Put down the hair tie and we have a deal."

"You lower the shaving cream first." I say, stretching the band even farther.

"Don't think I won't spray this all over you and the refresher," he jests. "Kix used it say it was good for the skin."

"So is elastic burn."

It's a stalemate: each of us calculating the other's reaction time, whether I can dive out of the room or Rex can pull the shower curtain over him before a counterattack hits.

"What do you two think you're doing?"

Both of us freeze. In the doorway stands Mina Bonteri, dressed for the con, hand on hip, and eyebrow cocked. I couldn't be more cowed if she'd cocked a rifle instead.

"Nothing, Mina," I say and slowly put the elastic back on the counter. Rex keeps his hand on the shaving cream, but I have another defense. If he sprays me, he also sprays Mina.

"Really? Rex, put the shaving cream down. I don't have time to wash these clothes."

Rex drops the shaving cream and Mina walks in, putting her makeup into one of the vanity's drawers. "I just needed to put my makeup back, and now that I see Steela's hair I think I should intervene here."

Code for: I saw you lovebirds about to plaster my refresher with shaving cream, and I'm not leaving you alone.

"Is there something wrong with my hair?"

"No, not with your hair," Mina says and undoes the elastic. "It just needs to be smoothed out, that's all."

"Senator Bonteri, I'm sorry for any confusion. I know we need to sell this ship." Rex says.

"Rex, if you start up with that Senator Bonteri nonsense I'll have to lecture you, and I'm not in the mood today." She jokes.

No kidding there. When we first met and I called her Senator Bonteri, Mina told me what I could call her.

 _"Honey, I go by two names," she said. "The first one is Mina, and the other one is Mom. You can pick from those two."_

Hobson's choice? Maybe. But I was flattered that she would let me call her Mom.

Rex returns to his shaving. "Forgive me, Mina. I forgot. I've never called someone older than me by their first name."

"What about General Mina?" I suggest. "That would be fitting. Ooh, or Commander Mina."

Rex's lip twitches in a smile. "Sergeant Mina."

"Captain Bonscary!"

Mina rolls her eyes.

"Stop it, you two," she says, securing my hair with a sharp _snap_ of the elastic, "Or else I'll have to start calling you names, and I have quite the imagination. You thought you were creative with 'Bonscary?' Try me. Just try."

 **Mina has Rex and Steela's number. And the numbers of everyone else on the ship, probably. There's a reason none of the con men get away with anything onboard.**

 **Thank you to starwarshobbitfics, Guest, McAwsome, MusicKeeper, and Johnt12345 for your reviews. And speaking of which, please review**

 **Until next time,**

 **LS**


	3. Mina Rules the School

**CHAPTER THREE – MINA RULES THE SCHOOL  
**

 **MINA**

I stand in front of my desk with perfect posture, waiting for the classroom to fill with Imperial Cadets. Some of them glance curiously over at me. Others stare, and yet more ignore me completely in favor of talking to their friends.

As they chat and gather their belongings I look them over, taking in all the details. Most of them are doing their best to meet regulations, but I spot their scuffed boots, rumpled caps, and uniforms both worn-out and outgrown. _Don't worry class. By the time I'm done with you all, you'll learn a great deal and have everything you need._

The bell rings and I straighten my badge, waiting a second for the last few whispers to die.

"Good morning, everyone," I greet, giving them a warm smile. "My name is Mrs. Devon, and I'm your new commerce teacher."

The students look back at me, bored. I'm not surprised for a place with such a high turnover rate.

"Since I don't know you all, why don't we go around the room and introduce ourselves?" I suggest. "We'll start on this side. Young lady, in the corner? You can start."

The girl snaps to attention. "Fiona, ma'am!"

"Thank you, Fiona. Next?"

The boy to Fiona's right takes a little more time standing up. "I'm Coale, ma'am."

When he stands I see it: the self-assured swagger that signals one thing. "You're something, aren't you Coale?"

The rest of the cadets snicker and share knowing looks. I recognize this type of boy from my high school days, the type who gives all the teachers a run for their money while eliciting the laughter of his classmates. The type who thinks he has me in the palm of his hand. And he's dead wrong.

Coale puffs out his chest. "Yes ma'am, some say I am."

 _Well Coale, you're about to meet your match._ "I thought so. Next?"

I listen as the other cadets state their names, paying close attention to their personality types. Fiona can probably keep a secret, Coale will tell the universe. And while Naya, with her quick and easy smile, is a good conversation partner, it's Sayid who understands others' emotions.

"It's good to meet all of you and I'm looking forward to getting to know you better, but there are only so many hours in the day. Your dean was kind enough to supply me with the curriculum," I glance down at my datapad. "We're talking about interplanetary trade. Could anyone tell me the two conditions which trade consists of?"

No sooner has the question left my lips than a white blur sails toward me. I reach up my right hand and catch it with two fingers.

A collective hush falls over the room as I examine the object: a piece of flimsi, folded into the likeness of a starship. And I know who launched it.

I look back to the group. "You're right, Coale. Shipbuilding is an important part of Kuat's central economy. Can you tell me what the ships are in terms of trade?"

Fiona freezes. Naya snickers in her chair. Sayid's mouth drops open. The rest of the cadets stare goggle-eyed.

"Uh, exports?" he chokes.

"Very good. Exports and imports are the two parts of trade." I turn to write that on the board.

"H-how?"

"Coale, do you know what peripheral vision is?" I ask, still not taking my eyes off the board. "It means I can see things out of the corner of my eye. And thank you for the ship; it's a lovely present. In fact," I go back to my desk and grab a stylus. "I think I'm going to name it the _S.S. Mrs. Devon."_

This time Naya can't hold in her laughter. I direct my attention back to her. "Is something funny, Naya?"

She immediately sobers up. "No ma'am."

"I didn't think so. Now, who can name some of Kuat's imports?"

"Durasteel," Sayid offers, his eyes still terrified and focused on Coale.

"Thank you, Sayid. And since we need the durasteel to make the ships, that makes it what kind of good?"

"A capital good," Fiona pipes up.

"Exactly. Thank you three for participating so readily," I say, sending a pointed look to Coale. "See what we can get done when there aren't pauses between questions and answers? We're making great progress through your vocabulary list."

The whole class looks at each other with a gaze of wonder. Good. Working with them keeps my mind off my children, who are running a con in the building. The last thing I need is to get sick with worry.

I set the flimsi starship on my desk.

"Let's keep going."

 **SIERRA**

"Mrs. Frey?"

My voice feels strange on my tongue: I've wiped every trace of my Onderonian accent from my speech, replacing it with the inflectipn from the Core. It's been delicate business, because no one on the ship has a Core accent.

Rex's is the closest, so I've spent the last five hours we were on the ship imitating his voice while he pointed out what I was doing wrong and Katooni followed us, talking in an overblown version of my accent.

 _"I don't sound like that," I argued after I'd grown tired of hearing it._

 _"Yeah you do," Katooni replied, but it sounded more like "Yah yew dew."_

 _"No I don't."_

 _"Saw says you and Lux talk like this because you're highborn, but even though I'm not I like this voice. I think I'm going to keep it," she said and starting singing one of her favorite songs in my accent._

 _Rex couldn't stop laughing even after I chased Katooni down and tickled her until she reverted to her normal voice._

But Abitha Frey doesn't seem to notice any vocal effort. "Are you Ms. Messner?"

"That's me, Laura Messner." I reach out to shake her hand. "From the Board of Education."

"You're young to be Board of Education already," she notes. "Where did you study?"

"Imperial Academy on Alderaan. I started working for the board right after graduation."

"I visited there a while ago. The cadets all seemed so comfortable with each other." She pushes her hair back. "Which of the current cadets do you know?"

Thank the force I actually know someone at the Imperial Academy on Alderaan. "Cadet Isis, Eva Isis. She's a friend of mine." Hopefully "Eva Isis," AKA Kira Narro, backs it up.

"The dean there says she's very bright. I might have to give her a call." Frey says. I'd better call Kira first so she knows to back it up.

"So, where did you study?" I ask, glancing down to her hand. "Is that a sorority ring?"

"It is." Frey twists it so I can see the letters. "Phi Kappa Lambda, from the University of Kuat."

"Beautiful ring. Never was in a sorority myself, but the girls there always seemed to have so much fun."

Saw clears his throat. _"Cut to the chase, Sierra."_

I resist the urge to make a face. Building rapport with the mark is essential for a good grift, and I can't count how many times I've said it to Saw.

"We did," Abitha says wistfully. "But that's all in the past. I know you didn't come to talk about sororities and your education. What are you here for?"

"Oh, nothing major. It's just the annual inspection."

"Isn't it usually in two months?"

"We always get backed up then, so we decided to move it up." I say. "Don't worry; I'm sure everything will be fine. I expect nothing less."

I watch Frey for any signs of unease or nervousness, but nothing yields. No twitches, no microexpressions, nothing.

Holy cow, this woman is cockier than I previously thought possible.

 _"Sierra, you're supposed to be finding locations where she could be hiding the money."_ Steela snaps. _"Look around the room and tell me if you see anything that could be from a laundering business."_

I want to tell her these things can't be rushed, but she already knows. Instead I look around for something that could potentially hold a lot of money.

My eyes catch a stylus on Frey's desk. "Try First Imperial Bank," I whisper.

 _"Thank you."_

The bank isn't likely to be doing her laundering, but at least it's a start. "Mrs. Frey, I'm going to need all the employee files, efficiency reports, expenses, budgets – everything. I'd like to make this as painless as possible."

"Painless is our first priority," she says and hands me a datapad. "Start wherever you need."

"Great. My partner might be around eventually when he's done with some of the primary schools, but I'm usually on my own," I say, opening a random file on the datapad.

 _Take the hint, Lux. Take the hint._

 _"Sierra, you're on your own for this one. Lux is being stubborn,"_ Ahsoka says. _"Just do your thing and try to find the money for Rex and Steela. Lux? You need to come around and see sense. We need a new ship!"_

I go back to the datapad, tuning them out. Suddenly, auditing Frey looks like a really good pastime.

 **AHSOKA**

The salesman taps the hull of the freighter. "If you have a big family, this is the ship for you, sir and ma'am."

Lux shrugs.

"Thank you, sir. Can I have a minute alone with my husband?" I ask, smiling hard through my teeth. Once he's gone, I lose the smile and turn to Lux.

"It's perfect."

"I don't know, Ahsoka…"

I wave my hands at the ship. "It has enough rooms for everyone, a good-sized kitchen, a refresher that actually locks, a bigger common room, and its inner workings aren't bad at all!"

"It doesn't have character," Lux announces. _"Piece of Crap_ has character."

"Lux, we got _Piece of Crap_ because it was the only thing available. Character had nothing to do with it."

"I'll admit this one is spacious…"

"And it had everything we need."

For a second, he finds some actual leverage. "The hyperdrive isn't as good as ours!"

"I've never seen a hyperdrive like the one on _Piece of Crap_ in my life." I protest.

"Exactly, and its speed saved Sierra's life when she was in shock. What if we need it again?" he asks.

I put my hand on his shoulder. "Lux, this hyperdrive is pretty darn fast too."

"Maybe it's the name," he mused. "What's its actual name?"

"This ship?"

"No, ours."

I roll my eyes. "As far as anyone can tell through the dirt, scratched paint, and dents, the name of our current ship is the _Nium Alcon."_

"See, it has a nice name. If we start calling it by that, then it doesn't sound so bad."

"Lux, _Nium Alcon_ is probably a worse name than _Piece of Crap,_ and a ship by any other name still doesn't have the room we need," I cross my arms. "I understand that you have a lot of memories attached to the ship. Tav and Kiara were born in it, it was the last home your father had, and we've gone through a lot of adventures in it, but it's time to move on. The kids are bigger and there's four of them. When we moved in, there were zero."

"Still, we could make it work."

I wrap and arm around his shoulders, smiling sweetly.

"No, we can't. Saw and Sierra have threatened to secede and start freelancing."

That gets his attention. Saw and Sierra, force love them, are great as part of a team but not so great on their own. The two of them freelancing spells MAJOR DISASTER in giant block letters.

"So you see, we have to get a new ship for the good of the galaxy at large."

Lux sizes me up, trying to decide if I'm serious or not. I made the freelancing thing up, but he doesn't need to know that. And everything else is true and a valid point.

I widen my eyes. "Come on, honey."

Lux scoffs. "Fine! But if that salesman tries to cheat us on it, we're out of here."

Nothing a Mind Trick can't handle. "I'll take care of him myself."

 **Lux should know now that there's no way to get out of moving. Ahsoka has this all under control.**

 **As for the section regarding Sierra's accent, it sounds like only upper-class Onderonians (Lux, Mina, Rash, Tandin, and Dendup) have the distinctive accent while the common people don't. Thus the Gerreras, Hutch, and Hero sound different than the Bonteris and Katooni apparently decided it would be a good idea to ask Saw why.**

 **Thank you to MusicKeeper, starwarshobbitfics, McAwsome, Johnt12345, TrinityWrites and TessaFred for your reviews. And speaking of which, please review!**

 **Until next time,**

 **LS**


	4. Rex and Steela, Party Animals

**CHAPTER FOUR – REX AND STEELA, PARTY ANIMALS**

 **STEELA**

I know I asked Sierra to give me potential money laundering locations, but this is a little extreme.

It's clear at this point that she's just grasping at straws. She's spit out Frey's bank, some clothing brands, a grocery store, and at the moment Rex and I are in a literal laundromat. Besides the bank they're all good places someone could run their dirty credits through, but when Rex and I checked them out in person or Hutch did on the HoloNet, all we found were legitimate companies.

Rex pokes a credit chip into a drink machine at the laundromat and presses a button for a candy bar. The treat falls with a dull _clunk_ into the tray.

"You know that thing is probably older than both of us?" I ask as he shells the wrapper off.

"Yes," Rex breaks off a chunk and offers the bar to me. "Want a bite?"

"No thanks," I lead the way out the doors, him on my heels chowing on the candy bar. "Well, this was a bust."

"Frey isn't letting anything slip except for these. She's run this school below regulations for years; I'm not surprised she knows how to keep her mouth shut about her dirty credits."

He swallows his bite of candy. "We need to rethink this. Where else could she have put the money?"

I close my eyes and think. "We checked all the high-risk places: the health club, the small businesses, this laundromat. The grocery store checks out, so does the holo theater and the chain clothing stores. Where else could she run the credits? Bah," I scoff. "If Sierra hadn't spent so much time talking about college, then we might have more places."

Rex stops in his tracks. "College?"

"Yeah. You remember that conversation, right?"

"You said the mark was in a sorority?"

I nod. "Phi Kappa Lambda."

"I think we might have something. Near the end of the Clone War, Torrent Company was on shore leave on Ord Mantell and we ended up at a fraternity's party. Some of my brothers danced with the sorority women and they mentioned sending in a few credits. The point is, some sorority members take out loans to pay their dues, or the group itself can take one out to buy things they need."

"Dirty credits go in, and clean cred comes out later with interest on top." I can't believe I didn't think of it sooner. Sierra knew about the sorority because Frey was still wearing her ring!

"It's in the sorority," Rex confirms. "Hutch, I need to know the address for the University of Kuat's Phi Kappa Lambda chapter."

…

"Oh, no way."

The house seems to shake with the thumping of the bass music. People lounge on the porch, the roof, and the lawn with cups in their hands. Someone got the bright idea to spray paint PHI KAPPA LAMBDA ROX! on the wall.

Rex looks at his comlink. "It's not even time for lunch yet," he snorts disapprovingly. "I didn't think sororities were allowed to have parties like this!"

"This looks like a frat party spilled over. Look at the bright side," I point out. "I can probably shake this place down in two minutes and no one will suspect a thing. You think they're checking people off a guest list from the looks of it?"

His hand itches toward mine. "Stay together. At the last party I attended, getting in was the easy part. Getting out was hard."

"Relax, captain." I take his hand and give it a quick squeeze. "This isn't my first rodeo. As long as we don't get drunk, we should be fine. Now act like a frat boy."

"Right," he nods. "No alcohol, no hard drugs, and no one leaves the building without the other."

We mount the steps, a self-confident smirk on Rex's face and a dopey grin on mine.

"Ready to party, babe?" I ask, doing my best Hero impression.

Rex stiffly tosses an arm around my waist. "Of course, ah, _baby."_

His attempts to channel Hutch's ease go over like a lead balloon. The woman at the door smirks. "Aww, he's so cute. This is his first party, isn't it?"

"Yeah," I say, practically hanging off Rex. "Where's the best part? I'm just dying to show him around."

The woman holds out a tray full of shot glasses. "Price of admission first."

So much for our "no alcohol" promise.

She waves the tray in front of us. "You have to do one to get in. And Beefcake here needs to lighten up before he can have fun."

Rex stiffens at being called Beefcake, but I elbow him. I gingerly take a shot from the tray, lift it to my lips, and slam the liquor. Rex takes his shot while I recover from mine. I remember now why I don't do tequila.

"Aren't sororities not allowed to drink in their houses?" He coughs once we've entered the house and found a semi-quiet corner.

"They also aren't allowed to party like this. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," He clears his throat. "All right, the credits. Where do you think they are?"

"Bedrooms," I say confidently. "If they're in credit form, then the girls will have found somewhere to hide them. Shouldn't take that long; the hard part is going to be getting into the rooms."

"The stairs are right here," he gestures up. "Let's get going."

Just then a young man half-stumbles-half-tumbles down the stairs, narrowly missing Rex and me. I flatten both of us against the wall.

The frat boy hauls himself to his feet and looks woozy-eyed at us.

"Congratulations, bro," he says to Rex and stumbles off.

I share a look with my miffed, slightly shaken boyfriend.

"Get this done," we say in unison.

…

Even the upstairs isn't free from the party in the rest of the house.

"I don't hear anyone in this one," Rex says, ear to the door.

"We can't hear much of anything." I kneel in front of the knob, trying to jimmy the lock. "Let's just hope this one isn't occupied."

I give the pick a final twist and the door swings open, revealing a blessedly empty room.

Rex breathes a sigh of relief and locks the door behind us. "Where should we start looking for loan information?"

I've already lifted the mattress. "Not here. You start with the dresser drawers, I'll check the closet."

I open the closet and start rifling through the woman's belongings.

"Do you know you make a face when you take shots?" Rex grunts as he yanks open a stuck drawer.

"I do?"

"Like you're about to sneeze."

"You're making that up," I open a shoe box. Nothing but shoes. "Do you know that you drool in your sleep?"

Rex turns pink. He knows how I know that one, and it's his fault for pretending to be asleep that time. "It wasn't much. But no, I'm not making it up. You really do make a face when you take shots."

"You know what, I know a way to settle this. First one to find the proof of credit transfer wins," I challenge. "And the loser has to buy the winner ice cream."

"Game on," he agrees and starts going through the drawers faster. "I have a soft spot for ice cream."

I shove some of the owner's shirts aside, revealing another stack of shoe boxes. _How many does she have? I tease Sierra about having so many shoes, but this woman takes the cake!_

Rex whistles. "You may want to start thinking of places to buy sundaes, Steela."

I turn around. There's Rex, grinning like the tooka that ate the canary with an envelope in his hand. "I'd like hot fudge, please." He says victoriously, popping the top open.

"You're so full of yourself." I shut the closet door. "All right, we'll swing through Galactic Burger on the way back."

He shakes his head. "No. I'm going to take my payment after the job, where we can sit down."

"It would be our second real date," I muse. "I'm all for it. Now let's get out of here so we can tell the others we have the records for the credits."

"Gladly," He opens the envelope and uses his comlink to snap pictures of the documents inside. "My ears are starting to ring."

Physically, it isn't far to the front door but in college parties distance is relative. On our way out we have to step over one person snoring on the floor, a puddle of spilled something and Drunk Guy From The Stairs and Girl With The Shot Tray kissing against the wall.

The girl pulls back and gives us a thumbs-up. "You go, sister! You leave that room open?"

"Yeah, bro," the guy slurs before going back to his girlfriend. "You should party with us."

This time Rex locks my hand with his. "Sorry guys, but we're leaving. Now."

 **MINA**

I've been seriously considering muting my earbud for the last hour or so.

Handling a classroom full of teenagers is no cup of tea, even when you command their respect. Add the bass music of a college party thumping in your ear along with Rex and Steela's shouted conversations and the general noise of a classroom, and it's a recipe for a headache.

By the time the music stops my class has cleared out and I'm left to my prep period. My lesson plans boil down to "wing it," and as a former Senator I know the ins and outs of basic economics like I know how to breathe.

Saw rolls his custodial cart into the classroom and walks up to my desk. "Are you hearing what I think I'm hearing?"

"Yes," I say, ears still ringing from the music. "And if I remember my college days, that's a frat party that's spilled over into a sorority house. Those ladies will be in serious trouble if the dean finds out."

"And so will Rex and Steela," he says. "Tandin got antsy when they zoomed off to a pancake joint on Rion – just wait until he hears about this."

"Let's not worry him," I instruct, rubbing my temples. "Rex and Steela have copies of the loan information. How's Sierra doing?"

"Grifting with all her might and trying to capitalize on any discrepancies, but she can't find anything wrong. She says she just needs time. Ahsoka thinks she might have talked Lux into considering a new ship, Hero's on her third trip to StarChucks waiting to be called in for shill duty, and Hutch is drowning in business records."

"Maybe Lux should let you give the briefing sometimes," I suggest. "And how are you doing?"

He shrugs. "Behind the scenes it gets even worse. The cleaners are diluted and any repairs that should have been made are either ignored or shoddily done. It's only a matter of time before someone gets hurt or contracts some disease."

"It's our job to reroute the money before that happens," I say. "Take a break; until Sierra gives us more information or Hutch runs the loans there's nothing we can do."

The classroom door slams open. "Mrs. Devon!" Naya cries, all out of breath. "Mrs. Devon, Fiona fell and it's bad. It's really, really bad!"

My breath freezes in my chest and I get to my feet, blood rushing in my veins. "What happened?"

"The pull-up bar in the gym broke while she was on it. She's not moving – Sayid's with her."

"Take me to her," I order, grabbing Saw and following Naya to the gym.

…

Fiona's red hair is a shock against the blue training mats strewn across the floor. Sayid and Coale kneel over her, a crowd of other cadets gathering around.

"Clear the way. Fiona!" I shout. "Fiona, can you hear me?"

Sayid turns around. "She's not really awake, Mrs. Devon."

Saw and I crouch over the young girl's body. Her ankle is twisted at an unnatural angle, eyes blinking groggily.

"I saw it," Sayid volunteers. "The bar just snapped off and she tried to land on her feet, but her foot twisted and she fell. I think she hit her head."

"She did," Saw confirms. "We need to take her to the nurse."

"The infirmary's only open on the second and fifth days of the week," Coale says.

I sigh. It's the sixth day. "Well, she still needs to be looked at. Let's take her back to her room. Sayid, come with us. I need to talk to you."

Saw wraps his arm around Fiona's shoulders, drawing a groan from moving her head.

"Put your arms around my neck," he instructs, stabilizing her head against his shoulder. "We're taking you somewhere to rest."

 **Poor overwhelmed Rex and Steela, and poor Fiona too. Having to deal with unwanted parties and falling off a pull-up bar is no picnic.**

 **Thank you to starwarshobbitfics, MusicKeeper, Rose Ravenclaw, McAwsome, and TrinityWrites for your reviews. And speaking of which, please review!**

 **Until next time,**

 **LS**


	5. Four Daughters, Three Sons

**CHAPTER FIVE – FOUR DAUGHTERS, THREE SONS**

 **MINA**

Saw pulls the bandages tight around Fiona's ankle and the cadet yelps.

"That seals it," he checks to make sure the flat dowels he wrapped in with the bandages are held tight. "Your ankle's broken."

"Oh," Fiona says glumly, then perks up. "How long until I can start training again? A week?"

"Try months," Saw argues. "Your concussion will heal faster, but for the next few days I'm putting you on bed rest."

"You don't look like a doctor" Fiona sputters.

"Wasn't always a janitor, either." Saw says. "I served in the Clone War and trust me, I know what I'm doing."

"He does, and so do I," I interject. "Fiona, you can come to class later provided you have crutches, but you're in bed for today and tomorrow."

"B-but!"

"Fiona, seriously," Naya argues.

Sayid speaks up. "Mrs. Devon's right. If you get up to train, it'll only be worse."

Fiona sulks back into bed. "Fine. I'll stay here."

"Good," I smile at her, then look to the others. "Sayid? Will you come with me please?"

….

"Is she going to be down for that long?" Sayid asks in the hallway.

"I'm afraid she is, and I don't know that we can get ahold of any treatments to speed up the process." When Tor broke Sierra's leg, Senator Organa's medical team fixed the problem by injecting a carapace knitter into the bone. The process was painful, expensive, and Sierra was still on crutches for a week.

Sayid puts his hand in his head. "Oh my god."

I cautiously put a hand on his shoulder. "Sayid, have there been accidents like this in the past?"

"Accidents? Yes." He nods. "Last year a post on one of the railings broke and the cadet leaning on it fell down two flights of stairs, Coale knows someone who was scalded from hot water in the showers, and two people were shocked by wiring in the computer lab."

My blood roars in my veins. Fiona's accident alone may have been just that, but four total? There's a connection here, and it's not difficult to tell what it is.

"Mrs. Devon, we have to do something about Fiona," he implores. "I have a family and I can make it in the galaxy, but she's a ward of the state. If she washes out she doesn't have anywhere to go."

"Surely they'll understand an injury."

"No they won't," Sayid glances into the room. "Final exams are coming up in a week and if she can't participate, then she's going to be cut. I don't know what's going to happen to her."

A tiny sword pierces my heart. I know exactly whose fault this is, and it's not Fiona's.

"We'll think of something," I give Sayid's shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "Take Naya and go to your classes. My friend and I will take care of Fiona here."

…

Five minutes after Naya and Sayid leave, Fiona bursts into tears.

"I can't take the final, can't I?' she cries.

"No," Saw says awkwardly. "Sorry, but you can't."

Fiona closes her eyes. "I have to. Please Mrs. Devon, I have to take it or I'll-."

"Sayid told me," I interrupt. "Don't worry, Fiona. We'll find a solution to this. Trust me, I have seven kids."

It's the truth, isn't it? I have four daughters and three sons. Ever since I watched Ahsoka walk down the aisle, fought Steela's fever with aspirin and stubbornness, hugged Saw when the galaxy crashed down around our ears, and coached Hutch and Hero through the finer points of parenting, they have been as dear to me as the ones I held as babies. If anyone dared to lay a hand on any one of them, I would rip them to bits with my bare hands. It's as simple as the things I tell them every single day.

Ahsoka, I'll take care of your baby while you take a nap.

Lux, put on a sweater.

Hero, would you like some help with dinner?

Saw, if you don't call me when you get there I'll assume you're dead or in serious trouble.

You can have the last cookie, Sierra.

No Steela, you're not bothering me. Everyone needs help sometimes.

Thank you for helping me fix my comlink, Hutch.

From the look on Saw's face, I know that I've said the right thing.

"You rest here while I meet up with some of my coworkers. We can work things out for you, but first you need to get over the concussion. Understood?"

Fiona nods glumly. "Understood, Mrs. Devon."

"I'll tell you what we come up with in a few hours." Saw says and exits the room, leaving me alone with Fiona.

I take Fiona's hand in one of mine. "I have four daughters," I murmur. "And over the course of three years three of them got hurt like you are now: first the oldest, then one in the middle, then the youngest. And they turned out fine. They hit some roadblocks, but now they're all fine, successful young women."

"They did?"

"They did," I confirm. "Let me tell you about them."

 **AHSOKA**

"So thanks to Rex and Steela's little expedition into the deep, dark reaches of college partying, we have the loan information," Hutch announces, flipping through the images on our holoprojector. "Now, it looks like the loans have been paid back in personal checks, which Frey puts into her account. Boom, she has cold hard credits in her hands, and they're perfectly clean. The sorority laundering is a genius move."

"So we have the credits?" Sierra asks.

"I'm about to grab them right now." Hutch smiles. "See, I thought we were going to have to hunt them down until Hero noticed something."

"The sorority girls wrote down the check numbers," Hero interrupts. "All we had to do was track those, and we found the credits. Ready to make a motherlode and then pack our bags?"

"Not yet."

Everyone turns to Mina, for once not sitting in her chair.

"Frey's negligence just injured one of my students and now she's due to wash out with no resources, no education, and nowhere to go," she says flatly. "I want her shut down."

"Mom, I know it's not our usual style but losing those credits is going to throw Frey into disarray already," Lux reasons. "I'm sure your student will find somewhere to go, maybe back with her family."

"She was a ward of the state," Mina says bluntly. "Frey ruined Fiona's life, and now we're going to ruin hers. I don't call many of the shots where jobs are concerned, but I'm putting my foot down for this one. We are going in. We are going to remove this woman from her position one way or another. And we are going to do it tomorrow."

Everyone in the room blinks, until Tav pipes up.

"Grandma, will you play with us tomorrow?"

Mina's scary mask falls from her face for a second. "No, Tavin. You had fun with Grandpa Tandin, right?"

"Oh yeah." Katooni interrupts, eyes wide. Tandin wilts just a little bit in his chair. _Oh, I don't think I want to know how his day went._

"Good. Because he'll be watching you tomorrow while we run the con," she smiles at Tav, then gives the rest of us a stone-eyed glare and announces "That is all," before exiting the room.

"Holy smokes," Saw breathes.

"That's my mom," Sierra says with some mixture of amazement, fear, and pride.

I have to check to make sure I'm not squeezing Kiara, at the moment happily nestled in my arms. It's not just from the revelation of having to take the job either – it's from something else. And one look at Steela tells me she's thinking of the same thing.

"While you guys make up the plan, I think it's time to put Kiara down for her nap," I stand up, careful not to startle the baby. "Steela, can you help me?"

"Sure," she says and hurriedly follows me out to Lux's and my bedroom, where I quickly and carefully lay Kiara in her crib.

"All right sweetie, time for your nap. Steela, shut the door."

Steela's way ahead of me; the door's already shut. "You heard it too?"

"We all heard it. You're just the one who was visibly trying not to cry," I point out.

"It" was Mina's confession to Fiona about her daughters. Daughters plural. I'm not sure if she knew, but we heard the whole thing over the comm.

 _"It's a little strange how they came to me: in reverse order. My youngest came first, then the middle two, and then the oldest," Mina laughed at the irony of it all, and I'll admit I did too. "My youngest is my biological daughter, and she's a trip! Talks and talks and talks, there's always something she wants to say. We love her even if she's a bit of a drama queen. A while ago there was an incident that left her with a broken leg. She's back at it though. Her sister threatened to stuff a sock in her mouth if she didn't stop talking."_

That would be an honest evaluation of dramatic Sierra…

 _"What about the others?" the cadet asked._

 _"The second youngest is adopted,"_ Mina continued. _"She and her brother came into my life at the same time, and I love them both to death. I met her when she was so sick she couldn't eat or walk very well on her own. But she's a firebrand. She's incredibly brave, and she's a bit of a loose cannon at times, but she cares for everyone before herself. Actually,"_ and we could practically see her eye-roll _"We've had problems with her doing this."_

Once she said that, I knew this conversation was going to be in the cards. Steela doesn't take family matters lightly.

 _"The second oldest…I'm not sure how to describe her. She speaks her mind, definitely, and she's a wonderful mother. She's getting better at censoring herself around her kids. And if she believes in it, she'll stick by it to her last breath."_

Yup, that's Hero for you. A while ago she had to physically bite her tongue so she didn't accidentally swear in front of Katooni. And then Mina turned the topic to me.

 _"My oldest is my daughter-in-law," she said, "And she's the gentle one. The perfect balance to my son. She always knows the right thing to say; so wise, but if you cross her or any of us, she'll leap to the defense. Out of all of them, she has the fiercest heart."_

 _"They sound great,"_ the cadet commented.

 _"They are, and that's just the girls. I could write another holobook on the boys."_ I thought Mina was done, but she had one last thing to say, something that makes me think she knows we were listening. _"They're wonderful people, and I'm very lucky to have them. All of them."_

"Steela, I know what Mina said came totally out of left field," I whisper, not wanting to wake the baby. "She meant it though – she has to love us all, or she'd strangle us. And it's not like it was a huge surprise to Lux or Sierra either."

"It's not about that," Steela bites her lip. "It's just – Ahsoka, did Saw or I ever tell you about our mother? Our biological mother?"

I turn from the crib, taking in every detail. "No, you haven't. I figured you didn't want to talk about her, like I didn't want to talk about Anakin."

"I do now," Steela says. "Her name was Kate, and she died when I was ten."

"What was she like?"

"Oh, she was the anti-Mina, honestly. Tough love and all that. She used to call Saw and I Devil One and Devil Two. It was kind of fitting." Steela's smile fades. "Mina and I were washing dishes a while ago, and she asked me what I wanted for my birthday. Apparently there's a family tradition, and – did Mina give you a charm on your birthday?"

My gaze drops to the white rose charm on the bracelet Lux gave me for my anniversary.

She shakes her head. "Sierra told me about it. Women in the family get one on each of their milestone birthdays. Sixteen, eighteen, twenty-one..."

Steela's twenty-first birthday is in two days.

"Look," I sit down with her, my hand in hers. "This is one of those moments where you have to trust me. If you don't want it, then just tell Mina about your mom and she'll understand. You have the right."

"I know. I love Mina, I really do. And I love all of you guys," her voice drops. "I have to, otherwise I'd have strangled you a few times. And Saw. And Sierra. _God,_ Sierra."

"I can say the same for you. There were a few times where Lux had to hide my lightsabers," I joke. "But I understand too. It was the same way for me with Padme and with Mina. I haven't seen my biological mom since I was four years old. I guess she's out there somewhere. When I met Padme, she made sure I knew that she cared about me. She taught me how to play dejarik and she would give me advice when Anakin couldn't. I loved her more than anything. She was basically my mom."

"I didn't get to spend a lot of time with her, but she seemed really great. Wish I could have known her better."

I wish it too. If everyone in the galaxy had a chance to spend time with Padme, the universe would be a much brighter place. When I heard what happened to her, I almost cried harder than when I heard about Anakin's fall.

"It took a while to let Padme into my heart, but I was really glad I did in the end. I figured my mother would want someone to love me; your mom would want the same."

Steela smirks. "She wouldn't say it directly. Has Saw told you about the Signal Flare Incident?"

I shake my head. "If it invovles Saw and explosives, I don't think I want to know."

 **The con is changing directions, and it isn't going to be a simple task. But what con would be complete without the twists and turns?**

 **Thank you to starwarshobbifics, MusicKeeper, and TrinityWrites for your reviews. And speaking of which, please review!**

 **Until next time,  
**

 **LS**


	6. Ahsoka Makes A Bad Investment

**CHAPTER SIX – AHSOKA MAKES A BAD INVESTMENT**

 **AHSOKA**

"Sierra, we are in position now. Are you ready for us?"

 _"One more minute,"_ she whispers, and then in a louder voice _"Mrs. Frey? Could you check the time for me please?"_

I check the time for myself. It's high noon, the exact time Frey leaves for her lunch break, where she takes the same route every day to a nearby sandwich shop. Routines are a con man's best friend.

There's a commotion and then Sierra speaks up. _"Lux, she's on the move. I stuck my ID card in the door so I'm back in the office right now."_

"Toss it, Sierra," Lux says, adjusting his cufflinks. "We need to find proof of those shady dealings. The loans don't prove that she's stealing budget cred."

 _"I'm working on it, but it's not like she has a file labeled 'Stolen Credits',"_ Sierra grumbles. _"Just give me time. I'll find these damn things if it's the last thing I do."_

Steela chuckles. _"So, the thief gig is harder than it looks?"_

 _"Shut up, Steela."_

 _"Enough,"_ Mina interrupts. _"Lux and Ahsoka, my class starts in about a minute. Do you see Frey?"_

I look over my shoulder. "Yep. She's coming in right now. I'm surprised the people haven't made her sandwich ahead of time."

"All right, showtime." Lux folds his hands on the table. "Starting in three…two…"

Frey walks in the door and gets in line for her sandwich, right next to Lux's and my table.

"Look, I get it," Lux says, having a little fun with a Mid Rim accent. "Just started college, everyone's rushing, you want in on the fun. You just need a little help with the dues. We can make that work for you."

"Thank goodness you get it," I sigh. "I asked my parents, and they said 'If you don't have the money, then you can't do it'. But it's college!"

Frey looks over the others in line to try and count, but she's getting nowhere. We're sure of that.

At the front of the line, Katooni flashes her biggest grin to Hutch, hands clasped in an angelic pose. "Daddy? Can I have ice cream?" she asks, her eyes wider than any loth-kitten's.

"And add on an order of ice cream for the little princess," Hutch tells the lady behind the counter, bouncing on the balls of his feet to entertain Molly, who's cooing in her little baby sling.

"Of course, sir. That's one bantha sandwich, fries, chocolate milk, a cherry pie, three cookies, apple slices with caramel, and an order of ice cream," the lady confirms.

"Hold on, we're not done here. Princess, do you want anything else? And do you have high chairs, ma'am? I can't eat with Number Two strapped to me here."

"Before you do that, are your apple slices organic? And your blue milk for the ice cream – that's locally sourced, right?" Hero asks. "I want her eating the best."

Behind Hutch, Hero, Molly, and Katooni, Rex and Steela sift through a binder stuffed to the brim with coupons.

"If we use this one, then we can get a free drink." Rex points out.

"But will we save more money with the other one? I wonder if they double up." Steela muses. "Better check all of them again."

Then there's Saw, staring at the menu and rubbing his chin in indecision. "Do I want milk or soda? They both look so good!"

And behind him is Tandin, holding Tav's hand and starting at the menu in despair.

"Do they have chicken nuggets?" Tav asks. "I want chicken nuggets."

Tandin doesn't answer. He's a shell of a man.

If we have anything to say about it, Frey isn't getting through this line anytime soon. She just has to stand right by our table.

"Exactly. It's college, and you want to have fun." he says. "What sorority are you rushing?"

"Well there are a few, but I got a bid for Phi Kappa Lambda." I readjust the fake spectacles on my face, hopefully large enough to make me look younger than 21.

Frey shifts just a little bit.

"That's a great sorority. They do lots of community service, and they know how to have fun. What are your dues?"

"They're about four thousand credits a semester."

This time Frey actually turns her body. I kick Lux under the table. _She's eavesdropping._

"So, can you help me?"

"I can," Lux nods, grinning his best sleazy smile. "I can give you a loan for your dues, which you can pay back over three years. Thirty-five percent interest."

"Thirty-five percent?" I repeat. "I'm not sure. I don't know much but that sounds like a lot of credits, Mr. Mancini."

"It's an excellent deal, miss," he takes a credit chip from his wallet and hands it to me. "Here. If you'll excuse me, why don't you think about it and get yourself a treat?

"Okay. Thank you," I take the chip and get into line behind Frey, a line which is now miraculously moving. I order a drink and extend the credit chip to the cashier, when a hand swoops down and presses a card into his hands.

"Her bill is on me," Frey announces, smiling at me. "I couldn't help but overhear your conversation. You're pledging Phi Kappa Lambda?"

"Yeah, I went to a party of theirs last night. Thank you for the drink," I stick a straw in the lid and take a few gulps. "I can't wait to join, and I'm so glad Mr. Mancini is helping me with my dues."

Frey makes a concerned face. "Why don't you sit with me? What's your name."

"Rosie, ma'am." We take a seat at one of the booths.

"My name is Abitha, and I'm an alumna of Phi Kappa Lambda," Frey says, showing me her ring. "I'm going to make this quick before he gets back. That man is taking advantage of you. He's hooking you by buying your food, he's gouging you on that interest, and he'll demand you pay it back before you can afford it, maybe even while you're still in school. You'll be sinking in debt for the rest of your life."

I blink. "Really?"

"How did you find him?"

"He had an advertisement for loans – I can't take out any through the Empire, I need a private lender and I don't know what to do." I wipe my eyes. "I guess I can't do it. Thanks for letting me know, and thank you for the drink. " I swallow hard and gather my purse.

Frey swoops in like a hawk on a womp rat. "Didn't you hear about the alumni lending program?"

I blink. "What?"

"Alumni can lend money to pledges to cover their sorority dues. It's a five percent interest rate, and all you have to do is sign a few contracts and the loan is yours." She smiles, her face beaming nothing but confidence. This woman doesn't just endanger her students, she's sleazy enough to pick up victims from a sandwich line with no remorse. I'm filled with a sudden desire to do exactly what Mina wants: ruin her life.

"Do you know how I can get them?"

"I have them right here," she pulls a few sheets of flimsi from her briefcase. "You can return these to me at the Imperial Academy and I'll transfer the credits over."

I breathe an audible sigh of relief. "Oh my gosh, thank you so much! I'll bring those over as soon as I read them over," I beam.

"I'm glad I was here," Frey says and gets up, grabbing her sandwich to take with her. "Phi Kappa Lambdas always help a sister in need."

…

"This is bad," I state the obvious as I slide into the booth with the rest of my crew. "She is hands-down one of the cockiest people I've seen, and I knew Anakin Skywalker and Grand Moff Tarkin."

"I want to punch her," Katooni says before stuffing the last of her ice cream cone past her lips.

Hero looks up from rifling in her diaper bag to find snacks for Molly. "Katooni, don't say that."

Katooni switches to caramel apples. "Okay," she says through a mouthful.

"You've had a lot of sugar today," Hutch notices. "We're going to box the rest of these sweets up for later."

"Apples are healthy, Dad!"

Saw cranes his neck. "Hutch, you want me to tell you how many grams of sugar are in this caramel?"

In response, Hutch seals the caramel up. "Katooni, eat your sandwich. You can have the rest of this later. Back to the con?"

I flip through the contract. "This doesn't say anything about where the credits are coming from. Sierra still needs to find the cuts or the shell companies."

Just then Sierra walks through the door, a scowl on her face. She plops down in our booth next to her brother.

"Speak of the devil and she shall appear," Sierra grumbles and reaches for Lux's chips. "There was nothing in Frey's office and I can't get on her computer because I can't guess the password. I tried everything."

"That must be where the records are." Lux muses. "Hutch?"

"No can do, Bonteri. She's locked up tighter than a Hutt's fist." Hutch stashes Katooni's treats away. "What are we going to do now?"

"Ahsoka, go through with the contract and get your hands on those credits. We can use then," Lux orders. "Sierra, keep cracking at the expenses; the rest of us are going to check the school for clues. Mom's students might know something and not realize it. Katooni, don't drive Tandin to drink."

"Oh, I won't," she says sweetly. "Lunchtime is what drives him crazy."

"Mommy, Grandpa Tandin wanted to have hot dogs yesterday." Tav says, as if Tandin had proposed eating toxic slime.

"You like hot dogs. Hot dogs are yummy." Lux prompts.

"No," Tav corrects, licking ketchup from his chicken nuggets off his fingers. "Chicken nuggets are yummy."

Across the table, Tandin whimpers.

 **MINA**

"I brought you a drink, Fiona."

Fiona sits up in bed, careful not to disturb her elevated ankle. "Thank you, Mrs. Devon."

"It's the least I could do. You say Naya's bringing you lunch?"

She nods, pursing her lips around the straw when she notices who else is in the room with me. "Oh! Hello, sir."

"Fiona, meet Mr. Mancini," I introduce Lux, gesturing for him to come in. "He'd like to ask you a few questions; do you mind?"

"Me? No." Fiona grunts and readjusts her position. "What do you need to ask me?"

"You're not in trouble," Lux clarifies. "We're just trying to figure out how this accident happened and how to prevent others. Do you understand?" Fiona nods. "Good. Now has your school recently switched brands for any of its supplies recently, or have they been late replacing equipment?"

"They replaced the water heater after that thing with the showers, but they haven't gotten new computers after those cadets got shocked in the lab," She says. "They'll need to get a new pull-up bar now."

"When was the last time that bar was replaced?"

"I don't know. It's been here longer than I have."

Just then Naya pops her head in. "Sorry Fi, the board says it's bantha burgers for lunch today."

"Darn," Fiona sticks her lip out. "I was hoping for noodle soup."

"Can't get everything you want," Naya steps all the way in. "Good afternoon, Mrs. Devon."

Lux sticks out his hand. "Mr. Mancini. I'm Mrs. Devon's son and we're just trying to understand Fiona's accident."

Naya's gossipy streak shines through at exactly the right moment. "We're going to have to put this one on the list of accidents. It was only a matter of time before the pull-up bar went. It rattled when we used it."

Lux makes a mental note. "And your nurse isn't available?"

"Not right now. Everyone's been really helpful, though. Naya's been a lifesaver, and Sayid bought me breakfast this morning." Fioma swallows. "I still don't know what I'm going to do."

"Don't worry about that," Lux says. "There are programs that can help people in your situation, Fiona.

Ahsoka's voice crackles through the comm. _"Lux, I have the credits and Hutch is trying to trace them, but we're hitting a brick wall. Someone needs to get their hands on real business records."_

I organize the collection of items on Fiona's footlocker. "All right ladies. If you think of anything related to the accident or if you need anything, then just let us know. Mr. Mancini and I need to speak in the hallway."

…

 _"You're telling me the loans aren't yielding?"_ Saw gripes.

Ahsoka's trying hard to keep her voice happy. _"Not for the dirty money, no, but we're four thousand credits richer."_

"The gym equipment is a good start, but we still don't have anything," I say. "Lux, we need to hurry. Fiona said the faulty electrical equipment wasn't replaced!"

 _"How? Frey is cocky, but she's smart about it. She's not going to just hand us incriminating records."_

Lux cracks his knuckles. "Then we'll have to force her hand. Sierra, I want this woman angry and I mean _steamed."_

 **Lux should know better than asking Sierra to anger someone. Like we saw in the last story, sometimes she's a little _too_ good at her job. I guess we'll have to wait until Wednesday to see if they sink in the quicksand for it. **

**Thank you to starwarshobbitfics, McAwsome, and MusicKeeper for your reviews. And speaking of which, please review!**

 **Until next time,**

 **LS**


	7. The Truth About Cafeteria Food

**CHAPTER SEVEN – THE TRUTH ABOUT CAFETERIA FOOD**

 **SIERRA**

I want to slam my head into Frey's desk.

I've been reading reports and bills until my eyes crossed, but nothing is yielding. Ahsoka dropped in a while ago to drop off contracts and pick up a credit check for her loan, and even that didn't produce so much a speck of dirt.

"Would you like to take a break?" Frey asks. "I'm sure I could have my assistants check the rest for you."

I shake my head. "No thank you. It's protocol; I need to examine everything." _Come on guys, give me something. I can't just keep grasping at random straws like this._

Lux's voice crackles through the comm. _"Then we'll have to force her hand. Sierra, I want this woman angry and I mean steamed."_

Oh, with pleasure.

"It's time for your file," I announce, skipping over a good dozen to get to hers. "Let's see – hmm, looks like you haven't gotten a raise in a while." I look around the room. "Fitting."

Frey almost chokes on her own spit, shocked by my sudden personality shift. "What do you mean, _fitting?"_

"Your students' test scores are unsatisfactory," I flip the file shut. "Really, I'm surprised I wasn't called in sooner. This academy needs a complete makeover if you're to be brought up to the appropriate levels.

She bristles. "Our students have a comprehensive education plan – you saw that. They just don't apply themselves to testing and that is completely out of my control!"

"If the cadets fail, we need to present them with more studying tools." I have a stroke of genius. "And since there are no savings in the budget right now, we'll have to take the funding out of your paycheck."

 _"You can't do that!"_

"I can and I will. Yours is the biggest. And since it's your job to fun the school so the cadets can pass, it looks like a pay cut is in order." Lux had better be happy with this, because I don't know how much angrier this woman can get.

Frey stalks back to her computer and plugs a holodisk into the data port. "Failing? Let's see what you define as failing, Ms. Messner."

She spins the computer screen so I can see some kind of electronic order form. "This is the order form for meat for the cadets' meals, which we buy directly from the processing company. Now the first company we started with charged an exorbitant fee, but this new one allows us to buy lower-tier items for a discounted price. _There's_ where the credits for said study tools will come from."

I lean forward to read the order form. "These are third-tier products."

"They're children; they won't taste the difference," Frey scoffs. "Meanwhile, there's no need to inflate the budget or cut anyone's paychecks. Which one of us is failing at her job now, Ms. Messner?"

My heart beats wildly against my chest, but I can't break character now. "We'll have to see what the board says," I say icily and stand, squaring off with her.

"Our custodial department is hiring," she announces and opens the door.

I want nothing more than to throw her down the nearest flight of stairs, but instead I power walk out the door and down the hallway.

"Guys, we have a serious problem."

 _"I'll say we do! That woman has a way around everything,"_ Saw grumbles.

"No, the products. Schools are second-tier markets. First tier products go to the general population, second tier goes to schools, prisons, and hospitals, and third tier … guys. Third tier means it's not safe for anybody."

Silence.

 _"The meat is tainted?"_

"I didn't get a good enough look at the order form, but it's contaminated or it's rotten or it's womp rat meat but whatever it is, it's not safe to eat." I recall the logo on the top of the form. "Hutch, the company's name is Sizzling Grill Meatpacking."

 _"On it,"_ he says. _"All right, I'm checking their shipping records. Looks like the slaughterhouse Frey got it from had a problem with some kind of bacteria that got into the meat. And yeah, she bought the third-tier batches, said it was for a science experiment."_

 _"How bad is it?"_ Lux asks.

 _"Bad. And … oh, that isn't good."_

I don't like that tone of voice, but Hero picks up on it first. _"Babe, what's wrong?"_

 _"This isn't the only Imperial Academy that's buying from them."_

"What do you mean, 'not the only Imperial Academy'?"

 _"I mean that Frey told all the other headmasters that they could get the same product for cheap, and she's sent the meat over to them with second-tier stickers. When we went on the job with Kira, didn't she say something about getting food poisoning? If she eats this stuff, she's going to get it again."_

My breath freezes in my chest. "Hutch, when was the meat shipped?"

 _"It arrived at the academies two hours ago."_

 _"They're going to serve it for lunch,"_ Steela realizes, horrified.

I speed up. "Lux, what do we do?"

There's a pause while my brother thinks, and then he starts barking instructions. _"Ahsoka, warn Kira about the meat. Mom, keep the kids in your classroom and do not, under any circumstances let them go to lunch. Saw, I need you to find that shipment. Everyone else, clear the lunchroom and try to get some kind of warning to the other schools. Whatever you do, don't let the kids eat that food!"_

 **MINA**

The only time I've heard of a person sweating blood has been in the holy books of Unifras. But at the moment, I find myself checking to make sure I'm not.

"Mrs. Devon, are you okay?" one of the cadets in the second row asks.

No, I'm not okay. The bell is about to ring to dismiss them for lunch and I have no idea what to do about it. I can't let these children eat tainted food but I'm a Senator, not a con woman!

It suddenly occurs to me that although some beg to differ those two jobs are exactly the same.

"Mrs. Devon?" the cadet repeats.

I grab my computer and type into the HoloNet search bar. "I have a surprise for all of you. For the next hour, we're going to watch a holo!"

"But it's almost time for lunch!" Coale protests.

"I know!" I say, my mind racing a parsec a minute. "So we're going to have – a pizza party!"

Silence.

"A pizza party?" Sayid echoes.

Coale sits straight up in his seat. "Really? Awesome!"

I immediately latch onto that. "Yes, it is. It's a reward for all your good behavior. Now I'm going to call the pizza parlor and have it delivered while you watch." I select a comedy holo and project it onto the board. "There you go. Enjoy!"

"Can I bring pizza to Fiona?" Naya asks.

"Of course. I'll be right back," I step into the hallway and call the nearest pizzeria. "Hello, I need twenty large pizzas delivered to the Imperial Academy immediately."

 _"I'm sorry, you said twenty?"_

"Yes, twenty!" I snap, my patience running out. I only have about a minute before the lunch bell rings. "I don't care what kind, just grab whatever you have on hand and deliver them immediately. It's an emergency!"

 _"That'll be two hundred credits,"_ the clerk squeaks.

"Thank you." I step back into my classroom and throw my credit card on the counter. "Sayid and Coale, give that to the pizza delivery person and carry the food in. I'll be right back!"

…

"No one goes to the cafeteria! There's food in my room, you can have that and watch holos."

The cadets on their way to the cafeteria blink at me. "Mrs. Devon, is something wrong?"

"Yes. It isn't safe in there, the …"

 _"The fryer overheated!"_ Steela hisses.

 _Thank you Steela_. "The fryer overheated. Now go back to my room and tell anyone else you see to go with you." I send them on their way with a quick pat on the back and continue my race toward the cafeteria. "Saw, do you have the shipment?"

 _"Yeah, and it's on the stove and in the freezer,"_ he grunts, and there's the sound of a dragging body. _"The cooks are taking an unplanned nap in the pantry but I can hear kids in the cafeteria."_

 _"I'm telling them about the fryer, but they don't believe me,"_ Steela says. _"Hey, you! You can't go in there, there's been an accident with the kitchen. Go eat in Mrs. Devon's room."_

 _"Who are you? And why don't we smell smoke if there's been an accident?"_ a cadet asks.

 _"Just do it, okay?"_

 _"You think you have it rough? I'm trying to herd them out of the cafeteria itself,"_ Sierra hisses. _"And – Saw! I need backup!"_

I stop. "Why do you need backup from Saw?"

 _"Can't talk right now, Mom."_

"Sierra, are you in trouble?" I demand, not bothering to whisper. The nearby cadets look at me like I'm insane, but I don't care. "Sierra, answer me!"

And then Sierra speaks, her fake Core accent booming across the comm channels. _"Hello, Headmistress Frey!"_

Oh.

 _"I'm on my way,"_ Lux growls.

 _"Uh-uh. This woman involves innocent girls in money laundering and she gave Kira food poisoning. She's all mine,"_ Ahsoka says.

 _"Hold on there!"_ Steela snaps. _"It was because of Frey and her stupid laundering that Rex and I had to embarrass ourselves going to that party. Her ass belongs to me!"_

 _"And it's also why Katooni ate a truckload of sugar while Hutch's and my backs were turned. And between her and Molly, we're not going to sleep for something like three days. Give her up, ladies."_ Hero snorts.

"No, none of you get to do this." I say, setting a course for the cafeteria. "Frey put my students in danger and ruined their lives. I'll handle this, girls. Sierra, stall her."

…

I open the cafeteria door to utter chaos.

Students lean against the walls, holding trays and sharing confused glances. Steela is attempting to take the trays from them. Saw's trying a more direct approach: he just rips the trays out of their hands.

"The food in here is bad. Go to Mrs. Devon's room," Lux orders to the now tray-less students.

"Who are you?" One asks.

"I'm the guy who's giving you free pizza."

That argument is enough to send most of the tray-less cadets walking toward the door, until a shout stops them. "The food is fine! Get back in line or it's a demerit!"

In the center of the room, Abitha Frey towers over Sierra, hatred on her face.

"No, the food is not. Listen to them," Sierra orders, pointing to Lux and the Gerreras.

"Who do you think you are?" Frey hisses. "You have no jurisdiction here, Ms. Messner."

"No, but I do have basic knowledge of food safety!" Sierra fires back. "You can't feed third-tier products to people. It's isn't safe!"

Frey's eyes fall on Lux. "I think our higher-ups would be more interested in your allowing a loan shark into this academy. And who are these others?"

Sierra brushes the comment off. "I bet once they test the food in this kitchen, they'll have other things to worry about than who helped to save these kids."

Sierra can hold her own. I take my attention off her and Frey, instead focusing on the kids.

"Mrs. Devon, what's wrong with the food?" one asks.

"It's tainted, Jof. There was a mix-up with the orders and the Academy received tainted food. I bought pizza for you all and it's in my room."

Jof gulps and hightails it out of the room.

"What are you doing, Mrs. Devon?" Frey says suddenly, sidestepping around Sierra and turning her anger to me. "You're a teacher, not a doctor. Cadets, the food is safe and you are to eat it. Now file up to the counter and get your lunches!"

" _Do not!"_ Lux, Saw, Sierra, and Steela shout.

But the cadets are frozen. They don't know us, but they know Frey can ruin them. If we don't stop her soon, then she's going to feed them that meat.

There is exactly one weapon that can stop her. One I'm happy to use.

I take a deep breath, using the air to make myself look larger and larger.

As I grow, the entire room sees it. The calm and serene fades from my face as I grow larger and larger, until the loving woman called Mina Bonteri is gone.

And a banshee stands in her place.

 **MusicKeeper, you called this plot twist in the first chapter. I think I might have to relinquish my Queen of Theories crown. (Or maybe split it in half. That could work).**

 **But anyway. This is not good. For anyone in the room with Mina BonScary.**

 **Thank you to starwarshobbitfics, McAwsome, Rose Ravenclaw, and MusicKeeper for your reviews. And speaking of which, please review!**

 **Until next time,**

 **LS**


	8. Terror, Unadulterated Terror

**CHAPTER EIGHT – TERROR. UNADULTERATED TERROR.**

 **SIERRA**

When I see my mother inflate, I take cover. There is no way I'm going to be anywhere near Abitha Frey when Mount St. Bonteri erupts.

I zoom over to Lux's position near a group of cadets, watching with intrigue.

"Ooh, Headmistress Frey's pissed," one whispers.

"Forget about her. Mrs. Devon's pissed. This is going to be one heck of a fight." Another whispers back.

"There isn't going to be a fight," Lux tells them. "Mrs. Devon is about to steamroll anything that stands in her way."

"It isn't going to be pretty, guys," I say.

The first cadet gives us a sideways look. "How do you know?"

"Because she's our mom."

The cadets flatten themselves against the wall.

Steela must have offered a similar argument, because everyone in a three-cadet radius of her scrambles for the far corner.

Mom rises onto her toes to tower over Frey, chest and shoulders puffed out and face glaring red.

"It's coming," Lux whispers.

"Why doesn't she run? I would run."

"Either she's stupid or she just doesn't want to activate the bomb."

Just as those words leave my mouth, Frey confirms it's the former. "Mrs. Devon, return to your classroom. This isn't your business."

 _"None of my business?"_ Mom bellows.

It's as if a gale-force wind has erupted around my mother's body: Everyone plasters themselves against the wall, and Frey takes a step back while simultaneously shrinking a good three inches.

Mom doesn't stop. "None of my business, you say? I say kriff that! It isn't enough for you to endanger your students, ruin their lives, and involve young women in crimes, you've willingly poisoned every cadet in the Core!"

"This is bad. This is even worse than when you pushed me off the diving board." Lux whispers into my ear.

"What do we do?"

"We aren't going to do anything."

 _"Do you understand what you're doing to these cadets?"_ Mom roars, snapping Lux and I out of our conversation. "Tell me, are those credits worth hurting them? Do you _enjoy_ hurting them? Are you that sick?"

"Ooh, I think she was saving that one for Tor," I wince.

Mom grabs the front of Frey's shirt and leans in very, very close. "I asked you a question, Ms. Frey."

Frey swallows hard. "It's my duty to cut frivolities from the budget."

Wrong answer.

Mom loses it.

 _"Frivolities?_ You've cut food, medical care, and safety protocols around this building. Let me tell you something, woman – I have seven children, and their health and safety is not a _frivolity!"_

 _"Guys? The deed is done. I'm waiting in the hallway and I don't think we should have the cadets around Mina right now."_ Ahsoka says.

"My children's well-being is my number one priority, and all that is holy knows it should be yours as well! You are responsible for these students!"

"Start inching toward the door," Lux whispers to the cadets. "When you get into the hallway, do whatever the Togruta woman says to do."

The cadets scurry to the door and Lux and I bring up the rear, more than happy to get away from the maelstrom. We've made it halfway to the door and closed ranks with the Gerreras when Mom shouts "STOP!"

We stop. Instantly.

Mom points at me. "You…you…" It occurs to me she can't remember my alias, but she powers through it. "Cadets, my room. Now. The rest of you, stay!"

Lux pushes the cadets into the hallway, then shuts the door behind us. It looks like he wants to say something, but wisely keeps his mouth shut. Saw grabs me in one arm, Steela in the other, and holds onto us like oversized stuffed animals.

"It's over," Mom says icily. "The cadets are out of danger, and samples of the food will go to testing. I have testimonial from the cadets about accidents you could have prevented. I have physical evidence of how you endangered them. I will tear you down so far you'll be lucky if you set foot on another school campus!"

"I've done nothing wrong." Frey points to Saw and Steela. "I don't know who these two are, but the other two are a loan shark and a Board of Education flake who just wants to move up in the ranks. Everyone knows those types will say anything for their next payout."

Lux clears his throat. "Here's the thing," he says. "I'm not 'those types'."

I share a look with Saw. Does Lux have a death wish? Everyone in our crew knows to never interrupt Mom when she's in Bonscary mode.

"I'm a businessman," Lux continues, "But even I don't do awful things like this. I mean, I only take their credits."

Frey snorts at him and turns her attention back to Mom. "Mrs. Devon, you're fired for insubordination. Collect your personal items and leave the building immediately."

"Don't you order me around, woman!"

Steela and I suck in breath at the same time. That's it, the callsign that if Frey had any hope of survival left it's been drowned in a lake of anger. I briefly consider hiding behind Saw, but he's holding onto me too tight.

 _"I kinda wish I had popcorn right now,"_ Hero whispers through the comm. _"This is even better than holodramas."_

"Listen here, Abitha Frey. If you even think of endangering any of my students or my children, I will find you," Mom hisses. "I will find you, I will hunt you down, and I will kill you! Do you hear me?" When Frey doesn't respond, she leans in closer. _"Do you hear me?"_

"Yes! Yes, I hear you!" Frey blubbers, finally reduced to the pile of shaking jelly BonScary makes people into.

"Good," Mom releases the front of her shirt and gives her a good, solid shove. "Laura, make the call."

"Yes ma'am," I squeak, dig the comlink out of my pocket, disengage from Saw, and scurry into the hallway.

 **THIRD PERSON**

Lux waits until Sierra's in the hallway and Mina has taken a few breaths before he speaks up.

"Ms. Frey, I understand what you're going through right now. Really, I do." he smiles. "I'm in the business of helping young women, just like you are. Except I don't involve them in money laundering, or anything of that sort."

"No. we're the least of your worries. There are much scarier people coming after you right about now."

"Like who?"

He points to the hallway. "Why don't you go back to your office and find out?"

…

Abitha Frey realizes what the loan shark meant when she gets opens the office door and a swarm of couples descend on her.

"What kind of establishment are you running here?" Jof's mother cries. "Serving tainted food to my baby?"

"Tainted food? Sayid called me about deadly gym equipment!" Sayid's father announces.

"And Coale called about the electrical system!"

Frey opens her mouth, but no sound comes out. All she can do is watch as the parents relay the Academy's various shortcomings, confirmed by the cadets standing near their families, and growing ever-angrier by the second.

"Headmistress Frey! Explain this," one of the fathers demands, waving his hands wildly.

Frey tries to muster up some words that just might save her from the wrath of a hall full of angry parents, but it's cut off by another noise: the sound of a comlink ringing on one line.

Then another.

And then a third.

…

 _Thirty minutes previous in the hallways of the Imperial Academy on Alderaan, Kira Narro's comlink rings. She checks the caller's ID, ducks into an alcove, and answers. "Hello?"_

 _"Kira, don't eat the Academy's food!"_

 _Kira stops short. Even without a salutation, she recognizes Ahsoka's voice. "Excuse me?"_

 _"We're on a job," Ahsoka explains "And long story short, every Imperial Academy in the Core has tainted food. You need to go out to eat for your next meal. Do you need me to wire you credits?"_

 _"No, I believe I have enough," Kira brushes her free hand against her uniform pants, suddenly nervous. "How in the galaxy did the Imperial Academy receive tainted food? There are strict quality control measures in place for food safety!" Kira is reeling. She doesn't trust the Empire for much, but she did trust their food until now._

 _"There's no time to explain; I'll fill you in later. Oh, and Kira? Please tell the other cadets for us; I don't want them to get sick. And would you mind telling them to tell their parents that they can't eat the food because someone named Abitha Frey knowingly tainted it?"_

 _A smile plays on Kira's lips. She's a Jedi, and the Jedi take no vengeance, but any opportunity to impede the Empire is an opportunity she'll take._

 _"I would be happy to tell them, Ahsoka."_

…

As Ahsoka was on the comm with Kira, Senator Bail Organa is on the comm with someone else.

 _"Senator Organa? This is Sierra Bonteri. How are you?"_

"Very well," Bail clears his throat. "How are you, Sierra?"

 _"I'm very well, especially after that trip to Zygerria,"_ Bail smiles when he hears that; he'd heard all about the con on the slave empire from Kira. _"But I'm afraid I'm not here to chat. You need to check your HoloMail immediately, Senator. It's urgent."_

With one hand Bail clicks through his mail. "Did you send me a message?"

 _"No, Hutch did. Senator, there are cadets in danger."_

Bail locates the message and opens it, scanning Hutch's commentary and the files while he listens to Sierra. She only confirms what he's reading, and there comes a point when he doesn't need the distraction of her voice any longer.

"Sierra, I found the file. Thank you," he says and quickly hangs up the comm and dials another number. He needs to check on his associates, but there's one other call that needs to be made immediately.

"Breha?" he shouts down the hallway, hoping he doesn't wake Leia from her nap. "Call the ISB."

…

Frey shoves through the slew of parents and stumbles into her office, but before she even looks up someone else speaks. "That would be the ISB. I'd answer that one quickly."

Her head snaps up. There in her office sit the loan shark, the Board of Education girl, Rosie the pledge, the two other kids from the cafeteria, and Mrs. Devon.

"Who are you people?" she demands.

"That doesn't matter right now," Lux announces. "Because right now, you have a lot of crimes to answer for."

 _"Crimes?_ I didn't – there's no proof I committed any crimes!"

"You're right," Ahsoka shrugs "Even with that loan investigation, we didn't have any proof of your crimes. So, we just framed you for _our_ crimes."

"Your crimes?"

…

 _Four hours ago, Hutch St. James popped cheese curls in his mouth while he waited for a few files to upload._

 _"And payback is mine," he crowed, pulling up the current security feed and linking Abitha Frey's accounts to all known transfers involving the Japrael Con Men. "She knows how to hide her dirty money…but not her password."_

 _"Hutch, are there any credits left over from when we stole Tarkin's insurance money?"_

 _"About a hundred in savings. Why?"_

 _"Let's give Frey a little petty cash to help with the lawyer fees. And make sure the Empire sees where it came from."_

 _…_

"If Grand Moff Tarkin comes after you, don't be surprised," Steela advises. "As far as he's concerned, you helped the Japrael Con Men steal his money. And you've had meetings with almost all of them caught on security feed."

The gears slowly start to turn in Frey's head. "The Japrael Con Men – you can't get away with this. The ISB will arrest you quicker than me!"

"Bye, Abitha," Sierra says sweetly before she rises from her seat. "May God have mercy on your soul, because I guarantee no one else will."

"If I were you, I would use that one extra line to call your lawyer," Lux advises, before standing up and following his crew out the door.

Frey has only dialed the first few digits of her lawyer's number when the ISB burst into the room, blasters raised.

"Abitha Frey, you are under arrest for conspiracy and known association with the Japrael Con Men!"

Frey quickly raises her hands so she won't get shot. "I've been framed! Those con men set me up."

 _"No. I believe you've set yourself up ever since you threw in with them to steal from me."_

Frey's stomach flips when she sees the hologram held in an ISB agent's hand: Grand Moff Tarkin. And it doesn't look like he's about to commend her for efficiency.

"Grand Moff Tarkin, there's been a misunderstanding. I never stole from you or from anyone." Frey squeaks. One of the ISB agents grabs her arms to put her in cuffs. "Let go of me!"

 _"Have her brought to the Coruscant penitentiary and await my orders,"_ Tarkin orders. _"One way or another, I'll find out what those thieves did with my money!"_

 **Looks like Frey went down about as hard as humanly possible. Tarkin isn't going to be merciful if he thinks she helped steal his money.**

 **But fear not! This is not the end. Part Two will be introduced next chapter, and the con men will be in for yet another ride.**

 **Thank you to MusicKeeper, starwarshobbitfics, McAwsome, Rose Ravenclaw, and TrinityWrites for your reviews. And speaking of which, please review!**

 **As for my theory crown, I think I'll keep it. Or at least the crown jewel :)**

 **Until next time,**

 **LS**


	9. The Most Unlikely Enemy

**CHAPTER NINE – THE MOST UNLIKELY ENEMY**

 **STEELA**

We always feel pretty good after a successful job, and this time is no exception. We put Frey in jail. We have a briefcase full of credits.

And, after Ahsoka talks to the salesman in the speeder, we have a ship.

"We have it free and clear?" Saw asks.

She nods. "Hutch and Hero are going over to pick it up. Then we can move our stuff out and sell _Piece of Crap_ once it's empty. _"_

"Awesome!" I high-five Saw. "It has a locking refresher?"

"Locked well enough when I tested it."

Saw sighs. "Thank the force."

"Okay, I admit it," Lux says finally. "We needed a bigger ship. I hate to see _Piece of Crap_ go, but we needed a new ship."

"Exactly," Ahsoka pats him on the shoulder. "I knew you'd come around."

"It's more like those sleepless nights with two kids waking each other up are getting to me," Lux smirks. "You have a good eye for ships, Ahsoka. I'm glad you picked this one out."

"Anything for a few extra hours of sleep, honey," Ahsoka blinks. "No one ever tells you how exhausting it really is to be a parent. I thought one kid was bad."

"It's a good thing you love her," Sierra says. "Kiara's a really good baby though."

"At least she's healthy," Ahsoka concedes. "And soon enough, she and Molly will be inseparable. It'll be great. We'll have dinner tonight, move our stuff, and get the girls' new nursery and Tav's room set up."

Hutch is probably drooling right now. "You're going to have to make sure Hutch doesn't paint it University of Onderon colors."

Ahsoka and Lux shudder at the idea of the nursery being overcome with blue and orange Rupings memorabilia. "I might have to pry the paint from his cold dead hands."

About an hour later, we're proved absolutely right.

"Hutch, what is this?"

"For Molly's room."

 _"No!"_

Hero holds up a giant Rupings poster. "This doesn't go in a kid's room. You put teddy bears and rocking chairs in kids' rooms, not sports posters. Even I know that!"

"That's coming from Hero, the anti-interior decorator," I point out and balance a box on my hip so I can press an access panel. "Rex, your armor is heavier than I thought."

"That's not my armor. Those are my holobooks," Rex corrects, opening the door. "Plastoid armor is lightweight."

I flip open the top of the box. "You read a lot of holobooks."

"Reg manuals, mostly," he explains. "I like to keep on top of things."

"You sure do. Can I borrow the sniper one?" I ask, grabbing it out of the box. I may be a thief, but I make sure to keep my shooting sharp.

"Of course." We trudge through the new ship to Rex and Saw's new room, where we put the boxes down and begin another run back to _Piece of Crap._ Moving is nothing if not exhausting.

"Tandin, you're cooking? What's for dinner?" I ask as I pass the galley.

Tandin stares at Rex and I with the gaze of the frazzled.

"I'll tell you what's not for dinner. Chicken nuggets are not for dinner. If I see another one, I'm going to jump out an airlock," he says and turns back toward the stove. _  
_

…

Besides the general feeling of success and the satisfaction of having credits in Hutch's accounts, sleep is the one other thing that's good after a con. You don't have to worry about conning the next day. You can take satisfaction from the fact that the mark isn't sleeping nearly as well. Your bed feels wonderful on your sore body. It's pretty awesome, which is why I'm jarred when I'm yanked out of it at – force bless it, _two in the morning?_

I wake up to the sound of screaming and a thumping bass.

"What the heck?" Sierra says across the room.

"Whaddisit?" Katooni mumbles.

"Kat, go back to sleep." Through the dark, I can see Sierra's outline get out of bed and walk toward the door. "I'm going to go check it out."

"Not alone, you're not." I yank on a sweatshirt and step into my shoes, going into the hallway with her.

"Cockpit?" she asks.

"Cockpit," I confirm. We need to find a viewport to find out what the heck is going on here.

By the time we get there, the others are way ahead of us. Hero and Lux are in the corner soothing Molly and Kiara, who are screaming. Everyone else besides Mina, who sleeps like a rock, is practically glued to the viewport.

"What's going on?" Sierra asks.

"You're not going to believe it," Lux tells her over the sound of Kiara's cries.

"What am I not going to believe?"

"How is this even possible?" Ahsoka asks. "Why would they do this on the _docks?"_

Through the wall of people in front of the viewport I catch a glimpse of a colored strobe light. _That's not something you see on the docks._

I cross my arms. "Saw, what's happening?"

Saw only steps back, giving me a spot at the viewport I happily take.

My eyes grow huge. "By the temple of Unifar…"

Normally, docking bays are empty in the wee hours of the morning, and if there are people in them they're either riffraff or those desperately trying to avoid riffraff. The scene playing out before my eyes must be the first of its kind in galactic history.

A green and purple strobe light reflects off the ceiling, walls, and floor, blinking to the beat of the music. Beer is kept in stacks of kegs, in cups, and probably spilled on the floor.

I say "probably" for a very simple reason: I can't see the floor. It's packed, every inch of it, with people. Drinking people. Dancing people. People just hanging around and talking. And finally, crowds of people doing stupid stuff.

It's the last group that worries me. "What is this, a frat party?"

Hero shakes her head. "Yeah, but they're not alone. Look at the girls' shirts. Phi. Kappa. Lambda."

"They have a house to party in. Why here?" I moan. "All right, that's it. The babies are crying. I'm going to tell them to turn it down. Rex, will you come with me?"

"Of course. No one should go to frat parties alone," Rex agrees and jogs after me, up to the boarding ramp.

"Remember the rules," I remind him. "No alcohol, no stupid stuff, and -."

"It's two in the morning, Steela. I don't think I need a reminder," Rex says, blinking slowly and lazily. I lower the boarding ramp so he doesn't have to, and then we descend into madness.

The music and the strobe light, distracting as they were in the ship, are a thousand times worse without walls to buffer them.

A hand shoots out and grabs mine. Rex's.

"So we don't get separated?"

"Separation actually might be a good idea. You take the music, I'll take the strobe light." He suggests.

I shrug. "Worked last time. Let's find whoever's in charge of the stereo. Hey, excuse me?" I shout to a Zabrak girl in impossibly high heels. "Who organized this party?"

The Zabrak points to a Pantoran wearing a magenta cocktail dress and a pink Twi'lek in a sorority sweatshirt.

"Thank you," Rex shouts and we push through the crowd of people, tapping the Pantoran on the shoulder. "Excuse me? Can you turn the music down?

"Is there a problem?" she asks.

I decide to explain. "Look, I'm your neighbor and my friends' babies can't sleep because of the noise. Will you turn it down?"

The Pantoran looks up, then down, then shakes her head.

"No."

"No? What do you mean, no?"

The girl puts her hand to her chest. "I'm Jenn, and I'm the president of Phi Kappa Lambda," she explains. "And because of you, we just lost our best lender."

Uh-oh… "Are you talking about Abitha Frey?"

"Three of our pledges pulled out because they couldn't get decent loans," the Twi'lek announces. "That's three sisters who would have helped us with the bills, and when the dean found out about the lender she put the whole sorority on probation. We are a proud sisterhood, and -."

"Shut it, Rani!" Jenn snaps. "The point is, you messed with our sorority. And if you mess up our sorority, we mess with you."

 _This is not good!_ "That lender was a bad woman! She was using you for money laundering."

"The cops have nothing on us; we're innocent for all they care. And all we care about is that you put us on probation, and you're going down."

My jaw drops. "You're not serious, right?"

"I'm totally serious."

"Isn't that taking things a little too far?"

"Not in the name of sisterhood," Rani says sweetly.

I lean in very, very close. "Turn down the music. Or else."

"Or else what?" Jenn sips her beer. "This is public property. We have as much a right to be here as you."

I'm about to tell her that I don't _care_ about the law, that I _flaunt_ the law every day of my life, and that I can steal their lives before they even realize what hit them. Security be damned; I'm a lady of crime and proud of it. But before I can say a word, a group of idiots decide it would be a good idea to form a human pyramid while guzzling beer from a spout.

A hand presses onto my shoulder. "Steela, we should go," Rex says.

"No way!"

"Yes, way." Rex presses his lips to my ear, making sure I can hear over the bass. "We need to discuss exactly what's going on here with the group. Lux called a meeting and we can't do any good here. So please, _please_ don't waste your energy and come with me."

…

"So what you're saying," Lux says after Rex and I give our reports. "Is that a sorority has declared _war_ on us?"

"And their allied frat is backing them," Rex confirms. "They lost their funding when Frey went down, and someone mentioned probation."

A ripple of disgust goes through the room.

"How did they even find us?" Hero laments, her fussy baby on her chest. "We can't leave; we're moving! We have to get our stuff off and sell _Piece of Crap_ before we can go."

"Hero's right," Hutch agrees. "We're stuck, and unless those animals out there turn it down. We have one good thing going for us here – they were pretty straight-laced in the past; the only bad thing they did was host overflow for the frat party. It looks like after they lost Frey's funding, they went wild. And they're smart. Probation is sort of a last chance for a sorority or fraternity, and if they get caught breaking the law they're out. That explains why they have the frat."

"Why do they need the frat?"

"Only fraternities are allowed to have alcohol-fueled parties," Saw explains. "They were probably in cahoots with Phi Kappa Lambda from the start, and now they'll help them keep everything just on _this_ side of legal."

Sierra moans and tries unsuccessfully to pull her bedhead into a bun. "You mean we can't just make an anonymous tip?"

"Not unless you want the Empire nosing through our stuff, which would get us all sent to prison."

Ahsoka's had enough. "Then what do we do? The kids can't just not sleep until we move."

"We need to find out what how these people found us and if the Empire knows, if they know anything." Hutch says. "And the easiest way to do that is cloning their comlinks. Basically, you can use a cloning program to essentially duplicate their comlink onto your comlink. You get all their messages, you can make calls, and you can see everything they did."

"Sounds easy enough."

"It is, on the surface. The hard part is that you have to get close enough to the comlinks to clone them, and I'm pretty sure they aren't going to just hand them over."

Lux rubs his temples. "Everyone, put in earplugs and put blankets over any viewports. We're going to sleep this one out. Tomorrow, we'll reconvene here and work out how to clone those comlinks and make a plan from there."

"Plan?"

"Yes, a plan. We're going to figure out how to get them to leave us in peace."

 **The rebels should brush up on their college memories, and if they don't have those then they'd better dust off _Neighbors, Revenge of the Nerds,_ and _Animal House_ because they have a new enemy: Greek life out for revenge. **

**Thank you to starwarshobbitfics, Guest, MusicKeeper, TessaFred, Johnt12345, McAwsome and TrinityWrites for your reviews. And speaking of which, please review!**

 **Until next time,**

 **LS**


	10. Sorority Rising

**CHAPTER TEN – SORORITY RISING**

The next morning at the Phi Kappa Lambda house, an annoyed sophomore tried to connect her comlink to the HoloNet for the millionth time. She had no idea why it wasn't working – nothing was on the antenna, nothing was visibly broken, so it should be working. Except it wasn't.

The doorbell rang. She got up, stretched, and lazily padded over to answer it. "Hello?"

She almost passed out.

In the doorway stood a tall, handsome, _very muscular_ man. Small soul patch. Cocky grin. It was all the sophomore could do not to fan herself.

"I'm here to fix the HoloNet," the guy said, flashing his smile and flexing his biceps the smallest bit.

The sophomore squeaked and opened the door.

…

Thirty minutes before the repairman arrived at the door, a sister gave her two siblings the evil eye.

"I don't believe it," Steela says. "You, all by yourself, are going to distract the whole sorority from the fact you're cloning their comms by _fixing their HoloNet?_ And Sierra's going to distract an entire frat? How?"

"Look," Sierra protested. "Hutch can block the signals all he wants, but that's not going to clone any comms. I'll be fine, Steela. Guys love helping girls; it makes them feel manly."

"And girls love a man in uniform," Saw straightens his collared shirt. "It'll be a breeze, Stee. You just sit back and relax."

"Oh, like that's possible," Steela grunts, hefting a box in her arms. "You never know how much stuff you have until you have to move it. And I didn't sleep last night. Unless you want to take over all of this, relaxing is impossible."

…

Saw and Sierra make it three blocks into their route before they stop and look at each other.

"I know how you're really getting into the house," Sierra says.

"I know you know," Saw agrees, removing a bottle of Molly's baby oil from his toolbox and unbuttoning his shirt to reveal the world's most cut up, barely-can-be-called-a-shirt T-shirt. He squeezes a generous amount of baby oil into his hand and then holds out the bottle. "Get my shoulders for me, will you?"

Sierra rubs the oil into Saw's back and shoulders, making sure they're not _too_ shiny. He's busy working on his abdomen when he hears the rustle of clothing behind him. "Saw, will you get my back?"

Saw's head snaps around. Sierra raises an eyebrow at him, wearing nothing but her shorts and her red bikini top.

"Put your shirt back on!" Saw hisses.

"Why? You aren't wearing one either."

"I'm also not going to be around a bunch of perverted frat guys!" Saw argues, grabbing her shirt and holding it out to her. "No sister of mine is walking around like that. Shirt. Now."

Sierra rolls her eyes and pulls the T-shirt over her head. "Whatever, Saw."

"You'll thank me later," he says. "Okay, remember what Hutch said. You just have to get near the comlinks to clone them, and if you see any numbers take them down. Got it?"

"Got it," Sierra grabs her bag and walks away, leaving Saw en route to the sorority's house. He walks away, whistling with anticipation.

The second she's out of sight, Sierra sets her bag down, yanks her shirt over her head, and stuffs it in the bag.

 **SAW**

Getting into the house as the gorgeous IT guy is the easy part. The hard part, I find out, is actually doing my job.

I cloned the first girl's comlink without a problem and on my way to their HoloNet router I cloned a second and third. But these girls don't look like ringleaders; I need the Pantoran and the Twi'lek Steela mentioned.

Meanwhile, I have a pretty good start. Other girls are trickling in from the house, no doubt because of a message the first girl sent telling them about the "HAWT IT GUY!"

"What's your name?" one asks, sprawled on the floor and watching me with rapt attention.

I fall back on one of my old aliases. "I'm Wes. And you are?"

The girl blinks. "Zara."

I give her a nod. "Nice name, Zara."

 _"That's a good grift,"_ Lux notices. _"Nice job using her name. But don't you already have her comlink?"_

I'm starting to understand why Sierra throws Lux dirty looks when he rushes her during a job. I'm not even a grifter and I can tell it's a delicate art.

"Hey, can you bring whoever's in charge here?" I ask. "I need to explain something to them."

Zara gets to her feet. "Okay," she says and walks over to the stairs. _"Hey Jenn! The IT guy needs you!"_

"Hutch, how do I fix the HoloNet?" I whisper out of the side of my mouth.

 _"Plug in the chip I gave you,"_ Hutch says through a mouthful of food _. "It should fit right in the data port and clear my blocks."_

Right. I fish around in my pockets for Hutch's chip and plug it into the port just as a Pantoran girl comes down the stairs. "Why does he need me?"

"You must be the president of the house," I stretch, flexing my biceps. Hope it isn't too suspicious. "Mind checking your HoloNet connection?"

The girl – Jenn – digs her comlink out of her pocket. I grab mine and start the clone.

"Everything's loading fine," she announces. "Thanks for fixing it."

"No problem," I announce, just as the clone completes. I put my comlink back. "So, you can expect the bill to arrive in about a week. I didn't do much; it should only be about twenty cred."

Jenn looks at me for a good, long time.

"Okay. Hold on, I should check the connection in the back of the house," she says. "Zara, will you keep him company?"

Zara's all too happy to oblige. "Sure. So Wes, how long have you been in IT?"

"Uh, a few -."

"Hey IT guy, the HoloNet doesn't work in the kitchen!" Jenn shouts and comes back to the living room.

 _Hutch…_

As if he can read my mind, Hutch protests. _"My blocks are gone! It must be the router itself – reset it."_

I crawl back under the router and hunt for the button to reset when Jenn comes up behind me, grabbing me by the ankles.

"Is it working?" she demands.

I finally find the reset button and press it. "If it acts up again, just press this button to reset and it should be fine."

"Sure, IT guy," she says sweetly, making my stomach flip. Hopefully no one in my crew is listening to this, or I'll be good as renamed in Katooni's eyes for the rest of my days.

I get back on my feet and grab my toolbox. "I've done everything I can here. Reset it if there's a problem."

"Sure," three of the girls flash me huge smiles. Maybe the baby oil was a little too much.

…

The first thing Hutch says when Sierra and I enter the common room is "Oh, you are in so much trouble."

"Why are we in trouble?"

"Saw, you're not in as deep as Sierra. Did you guys know that Kuat takes security very, very seriously? And that they have traffic cameras just about everywhere?" He brings an image up on the screen.

"That would be you and Sierra leaving the docks," he says, and flips to another picture. "And this one – look at that, Saw. In this one, your collared shirt is gone and you're saying something to Sierra because she's in her swimsuit top. Fast forward a few minutes … and there's Saw, wearing his lovely shirt. And Sierra's in her T-shirt until we go forward about five minutes."

I slide my eyes over to Sierra. "What does he mean, until?"

Sierra shrinks, but Hutch keeps on rolling.

"Boom. Camera outside the frat house, and we have Sierra, but we don't have her T-shirt." He looks pointedly at her. "Lux wasn't too pleased with that one."

"Neither am I!" I announce. What was she thinking, working a job dressed like that?

Sierra groans. "I thought you were supposed to be doing tech support, not stalking us!"

"Well excuse me for watching your backs," Hutch rolled his eyes. "Did you get the comlinks?"

Sierra and I each plop our comlinks on his desk, and he pops out the data cards and plugs them into his computer. A series of comm numbers comes up on the screen.

"That's all I need," Hutch says, handing back our comlinks. "Sierra, if I were you I'd start explaining before your mom sees those pictures."

Sierra's face goes white and she speeds back to her room at a pretty good clip. I watch her as she goes.

"Hutch, is she … you know, all there?" I tap my head.

"Is she right in the head? Yeah," Hutch says.

I raise an eyebrow. There have been times I've questioned Sierra's mental state. "How can you be so sure?"

Hutch looks up from his keyboard. "Because after that stunt she pulled with Atai and Kira, I checked."

That was probably a sound decision, on many levels. I untie my shoelaces and go to pull the shoes off my feet.

And they don't move.

"Oh, come on," I grumble and try again. My feet didn't swell this much even during the rebellion, and I was fighting a war! We don't have time nor extra credits to buy new shoes for me, so I can't cut them off. That means there's only one option.

"Hutch, I need you to pull my shoes off."

Hutch rolls his eyes and grabs my foot. "Are you serious, Saw? You need me to get your shoes off for you? I don't even have to tie Katooni's shoes, and the last time I had to help Hero with hers was when she was nine months – _what the heck?"_

"Harder than it looks, _huh?"_ I shoot back.

"What's wrong with these things?" he leans in for a closer inspection. "You're not wearing socks, and your feet don't look swollen…" Suddenly his eyes go huge. "Oh my God."

"What?"

"Dude, think back to the sorority house. Were any of the girls near your feet?"

"Yeah," I say, dread knotting in my stomach. "Why? What is it?"

Hutch rolls back onto his haunches. "Your shoes are glued to your feet."

"WHAT?"

"I can see the glue, and it's already dried," he confirms. "I'm gonna get Hero; she'll know what to do."

"G-glue?" I cough, when another thought strikes me. "Hang on, don't let Steela see this."

"I'm not getting Steela, I'm getting my wife!"

…

"This isn't funny," I growl as Hero pours rubbing alcohol on my feet to dissolve the glue.

"No, it's hilarious," Katooni corrects, snapping a picture on her comlink.

Tav giggles. "Uncle Saw's stuck!"

Steela, for her part, isn't laughing. She's about to boil over with anger. I can't blame her; if someone glued Steela's shoes to her feet I'd beat them into a bloody pulp.

"It's on," she growls. "I don't care whether or not they're in with the Empire, this is a low blow. Gluing shoes to Saw's feet?"

Sierra whistles. "Gotta give credit where credit's due. This is -." One look from Steela, and her mouth snaps shut.

"Safety is our highest priority," Ahsoka says, looking pointedly at Steela and me.

Hutch leans back from his computer. "And safe it is. There are no communications to or from any known Imperials or sympathizers. Just a few messages about buying Crazy Glue at the store."

Lux yanks on my shoes and they pop off my feet with a loud, painful _pop!_ I tumble off the chair and land on my face on the floor.

"Okay, so it's safe," Steela continues. "Then what are we going to do? I have Crazy Glue."

"Steela, I think you're overreacting." Lux sticks his neck out

Steela's mouth drops open, and Ahsoka rushes to correct the mistake. "Maybe Crazy Glue is an overreaction, but we need to find some way to fight back against these students or our lives are going to be awful for the next week or so."

"And I agree," Lux straightens up and drops my shoe on the floor. "Saw, put some Vaseline on your feet. We need to think up a plan."

 **Phi Kappa Lambda (or at least Jenn) pulls no punches on her revenge quest. Gluing Saw's shoes might not have been their smartest move because they've awoken the wrath of his sister - and even though he's the oldest and adopted, Saw is Mina's son too. You all saw how well that turned out for Frey. :)**

 **Thank you to starwarshobbitfics and MusicKeeper for your reviews. And speaking of which, please review!**

 **Until next time,**

 **LS**


	11. Happy Birthday Steela

**CHAPTER ELEVEN – HAPPY BIRTHDAY, STEELA**

 **STEELA**

Today is my twenty-first birthday.

Of all my family members, Saw celebrated first. He shakes me awake and holds up a bottle of mustard and the speeder keys.

"Is this what I think it's for?"

"Happy birthday, sis."

I quickly throw on a pair of shoes and follow him to the dock, where he already has the speeder out. He opens the passenger side door and I raise an eyebrow. "Shouldn't I drive?"

"Come on Steela. I can drive."

"I want to see my next birthday."

He launches himself into the driver's seat and buckles in. "Look, I'm teaching Katooni how to drive. I can do this. She says I'm a good teacher."

 _May the force be with Katooni and everyone on the road with her._ "Okay, fine. It's only a few blocks." It's not like there are many ways for Saw to kill us in six blocks' worth of road. After I triple check that my seat belt is working, we pull out of the docks and head toward the sorority house.

"I take it you're not just doing this because it's my birthday?" I muse, uncapping the mustard.

"No," he admits, taking a hard turn. "I need a sniper."

I stabilize myself against the speeder door. "Have you ever considered taking driving lessons?"

He shoots me a look, but apparently decides against it when the sorority house looms into view. "Whatever. Roll down the window. It's revenge time."

"With pleasure."

I roll the window down and lean out of the speeder, the mustard bottle clutched in my hand.

"Do any of the speeders stick out to you?" Saw shouts.

I scan the driveway. Most of the speeders are nondescript, and I don't want to ruin some innocent pledge's, and then I see it. Parked up by the garage is a red speeder with vanity plate JENN.

"I can see Jenn's, but it's parked all the way up. We won't be able to get to it from the -."

But insignificant things like "the edge of the road" don't matter to Saw. With one swift motion he yanks the steering wheel to the right, jumping the curb and bringing us into the yard with a _thud_ and a squeal of servos.

"Go! Go!" he yells, but I've blocked him out. I'm in the little world where it's just me, my mustard bottle, and Jenn's speeder. One sharp squeeze, and the condiment shoots out of the bottle and squiggles over the red speeder from bumper to bumper. Saw makes a U-turn to go back for a second pass. "Get the other side this time!"

Halfway through the second pass, one of the girls rushes onto the porch. "What the heck?"

I hurl the empty mustard bottle at the speeder and shout "Tell Jenn nobody messes with my brother!"

"That's for my shoes!" Saw yells out the window as we peel out of the driveway, hurtling down the street toward the docks.

…

By the time Saw and I get back, the rest of our crew is sitting at the table surrounded by heaping plates of pancakes, eggs, and sausage.

"What's this?"

Hero looks up from feeding Molly bits of egg. "It's your birthday breakfast."

"Where have you been?" Mina asks, pouring the Bloody Mary I'm now old enough to drink without watching my back for her, Tandin, or (the galaxy's biggest snitch) Katooni.

"Just took her for a birthday drive," Saw announces.

Ahsoka locks eyes with me, and brushes her thumb against her cheek as if to wipe something off. I mirror the action and my thumb comes away yellow.

I stare at it. Saw stares at it. To her eternal credit, Mina simply hands me a napkin and pulls out my chair.

"Sit down, birthday girl. We've all been waiting for you."

…..

For my present, Tav made me a paper crown proclaiming my status as "Ant Stela." It's a bit too small, but I still love it.

"Should we sing Happy Birthday or something?" Saw whispers to Lux.

Lux shakes his head. "We haven't baked her cake yet."

"Good. I forgot to wrap her present."

"You don't have to get me presents!" I protest. "Can't the crown and the new ship be my presents?"

"It is, sort of." Sierra swallows her pancakes. "For your present, I'm moving your stuff into the new ship. Happy birthday."

Well that's a present I can definitely use. "Thank you!"

Tav pulls on Ahsoka's sleeve. "Mommy, can I have more pancakes?"

"Of course, sweetie." Ahsoka says, overjoyed that Tav's eating something other than chicken nuggets. "Lux, how's Kiara doing with her bottle?"

"Just fine," Lux makes a funny face at Kiara.

The food is delicious, the kids are behaving, and for a few incredible minutes I allow myself to think I'm going to have a great birthday.

So when the doorbell rings Lux gets up to answer it and I stay happily seated wearing my crown and eating breakfast until I hear a gush of water, Lux's shout, and Kiara's shrill cry. By the time I'm out of my chair, Ahsoka's already halfway down the hall.

Lux stands in the doorway of the ship, dripping wet and hunched over a screaming Kiara to shield her. Considering that she's soaked, he didn't succeed.

"What happened?" Ahsoka cries, grabbing the baby and checking her for injuries.

But Lux doesn't need to respond. Five young men and two young women stand at the end of the boarding ramp, holding a water tank.

"Enjoy your shower?" Jenn asks, sitting on top of the tank.

Ahsoka checks to make sure she is not squeezing her baby. "What is wrong with you? He was holding a baby!"

The frat guy with the hose ignores her. "It's on."

"Nothing's on!" Sierra protests.

"You started it." Jenn announced, pointing to me.

"I did? You started -." Ahsoka glares at me and I shut up. At the moment, soaking Lux and Kiara trumps the damage done to Saw.

"Look," Hutch says, holding his palms out in a pacifying gesture. "Can we just call this even and be done? And guys, what are you even doing here? You're not in the sorority."

"We're not calling it even! We had pledges pull out because of your stunt with our lender," Rani snaps. "You destroyed our sorority, and you haven't even come close to paying for that."

"You soaked my baby! She could have been hurt!" Ahsoka shouts.

One of the frat guys redirects his attention to his buddies. "Guys, she has a point. That's a little baby."

One of the others elbows him. "Look lady, we didn't see the baby. And Phi Kappa Lambda helps us out when we need it, we help them when they need it. Come on, we're not dolts. We're not going to hose down a baby unless it's a total accident."

"I was part of a brotherhood too," Rex says "I understand keeping faith with your allies, but you also have to keep it with your neighbors. All we want is to be left in peace and then we'll be gone." He pauses, and then says "I'll even give you a cash reward to help with the expenses."

Rani pauses. "Really? You have sixteen thousand credits to replace the four pledges who backed out, plus another four thousand for the girl who lost her funding?"

Rex's eyes go wide. He doesn't have that kind of money. None of us have that kind of money.

"Didn't think so," Jenn finishes. "Ned, soak him."

Ned the Frat Guy turns on the valve for the water tank, but Rex is faster. He dives out of the way, yanks Lux back over the threshold of the boarding ramp, and punches the button for the door control.

The jet stream of water slams into the boarding ramp door seconds after it closes.

"Force almighty, they don't mess around," Sierra gapes.

Practically in the middle of Sierra's sentence, Ahsoka spins on her heels and sets her gaze on me, danger in her eyes.

"Steela," she says with barely-controlled rage. "What in Unifar's name did you do?"

I shrink about an inch and brace for the maelstrom. "Saw and I might have sprayed mustard on Jenn's speeder."

Ahsoka inhales deeply, probably channeling some calming Force energy.

"That's it," she growls. "The gloves are off. We're shutting this down."

"What are we going to do?" Sierra demands, grabbing a towel and tossing it to Lux. "I can't grift; they know all our faces. All we have is surveillance and some mustard on Jenn's car. Whatever we throw at them, they throw right back at us!"

"They're like us, but evil," Katooni realizes.

Hutch checks his computer monitor. "If there's such a thing as good news, I have it. They haven't called the police for anything, probably because they don't like the cops. Luckily, it looks like nobody knows we cloned their comlinks."

"Can we get anything from that?"

A pause, and then Hutch shakes his head. "I don't have any ideas."

"I got my shoes glued to my feet for _nothing?"_ Saw cries.

"Beautiful," Ahsoka plops Kiara on the nearest surface and starts to unbutton her wet onesie, cooing to quiet the screaming child. "I know it's uncomfortable sweetie, I know…"

"We need to hit them where it hurts," Saw says, flopping down on the couch. "It's clearly not their cars."

"Want me to remote shut off their HoloNet again?" Hutch asks.

"No, they'll do something even more heinous." Lux pulls the towel from his head. "These college students are ruthless, smart, and angry. I'd almost say they're smarter than some of our former marks."

"Obviously," Hero snaps. "Sierra's right. We can't con these people. Now only do they know us, they're just too smart for it. They're stupid, but smart at the same time." Her face bleaches. "Oh my God, they're just like culinary student me."

"No way, Hero," I argue. "I was your roommate when you were in culinary school and you never did anything stupid as this." She just occasionally got drunk on cooking sherry and had to be dragged home and put to bed by Ahsoka and me.

"Actually, yeah," she admits. "Remember when my classmates and I cracked open one too many bottles of sherry and we decided it would be a really great idea to make instruments from the kitchen utensils and have a dance party?"

The image, one I've been trying to block since Ahsoka and I saw it, comes rushing back into my mind. "The only reason that was a good idea was alcohol."

"Exactly. And because we were trashed, it was awesome," she says. "I still remember it. And that's the key. Partying in college isn't just about getting drunk, it's about the memories. Take away the memories, and we've got them in the palm of our hands."

"One problem. You just said yourself that we can't con them. How are we going to steal memories without a con?" Sierra asks smarmily.

"And that's where you're wrong, Sierra," Lux says confidently. "We can't con them, so we'll just rob them."

"Stealing memories. That's a new one," Katooni says brightly. "What do you think about it, Steela?"

"I think this is shaping up to be a … memorable birthday."

Lux nods. "It will be. Steela, I hope you don't mind eating cake a little later. Let's go steal Greek life."


	12. Game Over, Nerfherders

**CHAPTER TWELVE – GAME OVER, NERFHERDERS**

 **SIERRA**

"Sorry about your birthday," I apologize to Steela as we jostle for space in the vanity mirror.

Steela shrugs. "It's not a big deal. Besides, you already gave me your present."

"I did." After the college kids and their water tank left, I spent the rest of the day hauling Steela's stuff from _Piece of Crap_ to the new ship, under strict instructions not to look at anything. "What do you have in your trunk, bricks?"

"Maybe," she blows on her nails to dry them. "Hey, when we go on the job tonight? Stick with me or one of the guys."

I roll my eyes. "I'm a grifter, Steela, and I'm eighteen. I can handle a college party."

"You're out of your element," She insists. "All your aliases are professionals. And honestly Sierra, so are you. You don't understand being a normal teenager."

Says the woman who led a rebellion at the ripe old age of sixteen. "That's not true."

Steela opens my wardrobe and gestures to my clothes: all white, navy blue, black, or gray and semi-professional.

"Okay, you might have a point."

She sizes me up. "Oh, I definitely have a point. _Hey Hero!_ Will you come in here please?"

"Why do we need Hero? I got party clothes at the thrift store."

Hero pops her head in. "Steela, do you need – oh. Oh man Sierra, what have we done to you?"

I raise an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

Hero sighs, comes behind me and starts yanking the pins out of my hair, destroying the hairstyle. "This should be your easiest costume yet, but you look like a thirty-year-old in a teenager's body. That's sad."

"How is it sad?" I wince as she scrunches her fingers through my hair and grabs the hairspray. "I like my clothes."

Hero stops teasing my hair for a second. "It just is. Steela, my makeup bag's in my room. We're going to need it." She leans over my shoulder. "This is your time to be creative. Come on, tell me the last time you wore something like this?"

I look down at my outfit: a hot pink and black striped cocktail dress. "It's probably going to be the only time in my life."

"Exactly," Hero confirms. "So live it up, sister. Now, let's fix your makeup."

…

When Hero gets done with me I have on way more eye makeup than usual, my lips are pink, and my hair is still warm from where she attacked it with a curling iron and a blow dryer.

"Gah, I love this," she says. "I feel like a big sister. Katooni wears her headdress so I never get to do this. Can't wait until Molly's hair grows out."

"God forbid they ever go to college parties," I say sourly. Steela walks in, adjusting her dress straps. "See, I'm not the only one who hates this!"

"True," Steela agrees, "But at least I know how to do it."

I roll my eyes and yank my shoes on. "All right, enough about clothes. Let's go rob this place blind."

…

 _"According to the comms, the party is still contained at the frat house,"_ Hutch says as we drive over. _"The sorority probably isn't going to risk hosting overflow since they got put on probation, so we can safely bet that they're all there."_

"What's the target?" Saw asks. "Or are we just going to booby-trap the house like they booby-trapped my shoes?"

 _"It looks like this party charges admission, and that's their big fundraiser. We steal that money, and they're not going to be able to pay for anything."_

"Once we have it, we'll hold it hostage until we're done moving, at which point we'll give it back. I don't think they're brazen enough to mess with us while we have their money." Lux explains.

"The girls won't. The guys might," Ahsoka muses.

"Why the guys and not the girls?"

I don't want anyone to irk their husband or boyfriend, so as the only single woman I take one for the team. "Because guys are idiots."

Saw elbows me, hard.

"Ow!"

"Deserved it," he gloats, but three seconds later clandestinely checks to make sure he didn't leave a mark.

Captain Rex parks the speeder. "Let's get this over with. Force, I hate these parties."

"Most guys would dream of going to a frat party with their girlfriend." Steela mutters, tossing an arm over Rex's shoulders. "When have you last been to a party, Rex?"

"This morning. Your birthday party, although I haven't given you your present yet."

"That wasn't her party; we didn't have cake," Saw says. "We'll have a real party once this all is over."

"I'd love to talk more about Steela's birthday, but unfortunately we have a job to do," Lux says, taking Ahsoka's hand. "Ahsoka and I are going to try and blend in to run surveillance. Hero and Rex, you're on cash grab duty. The rest of you, create a distraction. And Saw, watch Sierra."

"I don't need babysitting!" I squawk.

"At a frat party, you do," Lux says.

I squint and quicken my pace toward the house, trying to sort out my alias as I walk. _I'm a freshman, majoring in… communications,_ I decide. _And I'm not in any of the other sororities, so I don't have to worry about those connections. As for everything else – I'll say I transferred from U of Onderon._

Saw's hand grabs my shoulder and yanks me back, making sure I can't take off without him. "You're not ditching me that easily. I take my brotherly duties very seriously."

"I feel so loved, Saw."

"You should," he and Steela say in unison.

We climb the porch stairs, deposit our five credits' admission into a large bucket guarded by a frat guy not that much older than me, and we're in.

If Phi Kappa Lambda's dock party was wild, then this frat party belongs nowhere but the Onderonian jungle. The smell of beer barely mingles with the odor of death stick smoke to form a thick, disgusting smog. All around me people are drinking, dancing, or attempting various feats each stupider than the last.

 _"Holy cow. U of Onderon never threw parties like this,"_ Hero whistles.

 _"That's because the University of Kuat is number four in the top ten party schools in the galaxy,"_ Hutch says. _"U of Onderon isn't even close."_

 _"If this is four, I don't want to see number one. Steela, status report. Do you think you can grab the cash?"_ Lux asks.

 _"If you can get that guard to look away, heck yeah. They just have it sitting in those buckets; not even chained down. My hands are twitching just looking at it."_

"Sometimes I wonder about you," Saw says and looks around the room. "We need a distraction. Sierra, got any ideas?"

"Half the stuff in this house is a distraction." As if to prove my point, a guy comes sliding down the banister on a circular sled.

Saw rubs his chin. "Okay, let me think. What worked in my house parties?" He hits on an idea. "I got it. See that keg?"

I do. "No way, Saw."

But Saw just puffs his chest out. "I can do it. I've done it before. All you have to do is hold my legs and chant."

I have a horrible feeling about it, but I've seen enough movies to know what happens during a keg stand. Saw flips himself upside down and I take his legs as he fits the keg's nozzle into his mouth.

"Chug!" I cheer, my voice steadily gaining volume. "Chug! Chug!"

A crowd of people in the room starts to gather around, situating themselves into the cheer. In the background, I see Steela sidling over toward the money.

The chant rips my attention away from her and back to Saw, who's starting to shake as he guzzles the beer.

 _"All clear. I've got the credits in my purse,"_ Steela whispers.

As soon as she says it, Saw spits out the nozzle and starts gasping for sweet, sweet air.

"Not beer," he gasps, collapsing to the ground in a heap. _"Not beer!"_

I put my finger to the nozzle and experimentally taste the liquid. The taste of alcohol burns across my tongue. "Gah! Is this jungle juice?"

 _"Saw, you did a keg stand with jungle juice?"_ Ahsoka cries in disbelief.

Saw doesn't answer, so I slip myself under his arm and help him to his feet. "Okay, let's walk; we're done here anyway. Tell me if you think you're going to get sick."

"Ooh," he groans. "That might just happen. That stuff is nasty."

"Well it worked. I've got everything we need." Steela takes Saw's other shoulder, the handbag full of credits in her other hand. "The next time we have to deal with any of them, it'll be as we leave on our new ship."

Just then the front door slams shut in front of us, and Jenn fills the frame.

"Game over, nerfherders," she growls.

At the sound of the slamming door, the other people in the room decide that the party on the lawn looks a lot better than over here.

My blood freezes, but I keep my cool. "Nothing's over. Our brother had too much to drink and we're taking him home."

Jenn laughs. "Do you think I'm blind or just stupid?" her eyes linger on Steela's credit-stuffed handbag. "That guy at the front might be an idiot, but I'm not. That's their rent money, and they pay us out of it too."

"Look," Steela says weakly. "Let's go outside and talk about this. This rivalry has dragged on way too long."

"Real convenient for you to say as you stand there trying to rip us off," Jenn snorts, and then she reaches into her pocket and says the four words no con artist wants to hear.

"I'm calling the cops."

 **STEELA**

It takes a second for Jenn's words to sink into the rest of the team's ears. Me, I have no such hesitation.

I thrust the bag of credits at a still-drink-dulled Saw, then lunge at Jenn and her comlink. "You don't want to do that!"

Jenn wrenches the comlink away, but I catch her wrist and squeeze, a trick Saw used on me when we were children. I squeeze harder and harder until her hand releases and the comlink clatters to the ground.

"Give that back, you kriffing schutta!" she yells, straining against me.

"Sierra, get rid of it!" I order.

Sierra dumps Saw onto the nearest couch and scrambles after the comlink, but she doesn't have to: a hand wraps around the comlink and scoops it off the floor.

"It's a little hard to call the cops without a comlink," Ahsoka says sweetly, stuffing the device down her shirt.

The front door opens and in walks the rest of our crew, triumph on their faces.

Jenn freezes against the wall and against my better judgement I let her go, leaving her to stare at us.

"This ends right here, right now," Ahsoka declares, gesturing at the floor to prove her point. "We're taking the money with us. You and the frat can come get it back when we're done moving. Until then, you will not bother us. You will not prank us, you will not throw parties around us, and you will not heckle us. Do you understand?" Jenn nods. "Good. Then leave."

Jenn slinks off into another part of the house, leaving us in the living room.

"Something's fishy," Sierra says. "It just doesn't add up. Jenn hasn't gone down without a fight in the past; she's always fought blow-for-blow. So why just give up and go away to sulk?"

"Because she's not,"

Suddenly, Hero snaps to attention. "Oh my God. Steela, do you remember when we were kids and my mom took away my comlink?"

"You called us from the neighbor's house," I remember, realization filling me. "Because -."

"Because they had a landline," Hero finishes and puts a finger to her comm. "Hutch! Does the frat have a phone bill?"

Hutch's voice shakes through the comm. _"They don't use it much, but it's still hooked up."_

"That must be where she's going," Lux growls. "Everyone, split up. We have to find that phone!"

 **Game over, in more ways than one. Whatever Jenn is majoring in, perhaps she should consider working for the ISB.**

 **Thank you to starwarshobbitfics, MusicKeeper, TessaFred, and McAwsome as well as to everyone who reviewed last chapter. For some reason, the site wouldn't let me edit the documents in the Doc Manager to add an author's note.**

 **Until next time,**

 **LS**


	13. Mina's Big Happy Family

**CHAPTER THIRTEEN – MINA'S BIG HAPPY FAMILY**

"My neighbors' landline was in the kitchen!" Hero whispers as we zoom through the halls. "If this place is anything like it, then-," she holds up her hand in a _stop_ gesture.

"Why are we stopping? Jenn could already have called the -."

 _Beep. Beep-beep. Beep beep-beep._

From a fuzzy place in my mind, I remember that sound: it's the sound of buttons being pressed on a landline phone.

Hero and I look at each other, and nod. With unspoken understanding, we kick open the nearest door and storm in. Jenn stands in the corner, clutching a landline phone.

"Don't move!" Jenn shouts, her finger hovering precariously over _SEND._ "I've already got the number dialed. I press this, and the cops are here."

"I'll narc to the dean!" Hero shoots back.

"With what? We haven't done anything wrong."

"Not after your lender went south," Hero replies. "But you remember that last party you did overflow for? The one where you greeted people at the door with shots? I wonder what she'll think when she hears about that."

Jenn's eyes go wide.

"You're smart," I admit. "But this time, you're really out of options."

"Yeah? So are you."

"Neither of us are going to be able to beat the other, but we can help you and you can help us," I propose. "Put the phone down, and we can discuss terms.

Jenn narrows her eyes. "The dean?"

"Will know nothing." Hero swallows hard. "Phi Kappa Lambda isn't just about you, Jenn. It's about all the other girls in it and right now, your sisters are counting on you to make the best choice for them."

Jenn considers and for a terrifying half-second, I think she's going to press send.

"If you call the dean, I'll hunt you down," she hisses, hanging up the phone.

 **THIRD PERSON**

The following morning, a group of con men gather around the table at the Phi Kappa Lambda house, staring at the sorority over plates of breakfast.

"You are a disgrace to everything pan-Hellenic," Rani hisses, glowering at her orange juice.

"Hey, we brought breakfast," Hero shoots back.

Zara the sophomore stuffs another forkful of eggs into her mouth. "And it's _good."_

Jenn runs her fingers through her light pink hair. "Thanks for the breakfast, but I hope you don't think this is one of the terms of surrender."

"It's not. It's just a peace offering," Lux says. "We have one part of the deal hashed out already; you don't call the cops, and we don't call the dean. We just have two more conditions, both of which I think you can handle."

"Yeah? And what conditions are those?"

"First is the simple one. You leave us alone."

The girls shrug. "As long as you leave our money alone," Rani says. "Unless, of course, you want to add to our account balance."

"That's one of our concessions," Ahsoka says. "We're in the business of helping people out and because you need help, we got you guys a new lender."

…

 _"Please," Hero begged. "Pretty please, with sugar and sprinkles on top?"_

 _Bail Organa rubbed his temples. "You want me to lend credits to a sorority that's been tormenting you?"_

 _"We would do it, but we don't have the credits," Hutch explained. "They're good for it, Senator. All previous records show that they made good payments on time and with interest. I guess that's a plus of having accountants-in-training living with you."_

 _"I will clean your house," Saw swore. "No, scratch that. I will clean your house, and your speeder if you lend these people credits. I will let your daughter put pink sparkly stuff on me. I will do whatever you want. Just lend the sorority some credits."_

 _"Well," Organa mulled, rubbing his chin. "Leia would like some new playmates."_

 _"We'll be over to see her as soon as we're done moving," Sierra blurted out. "Thank you so much, Senator Organa! You're the best!"_

 _Organa glanced down the hall, to where Leia was playing "Warrior princess tea party" with her dolls. He briefly wondered if the con men would think he was the best after Leia got through with them._

 _"If that's what you want to do, then you can."_

…

"Senator Organa is lending us credits?" One of the girls asks.

"He agreed to be your new lender. Same conditions as before, but no money laundering involved," Ahsoka explains. "So, you just have to give any new pledges his contact information if they need private loans. Which, actually, leads us into our next condition."

The girls' defensive mask goes up again.

"What conditions?" Zara asks, dramatically twirling her fork in her hand.

This time it's Mina's turn to speak. "Rani, I understand you were concerned about pledges backing out and rushing other sororities, and you're very concerned about the legacy of the sorority. You're graduating this year, aren't you? And you'd like to have someone to pass your hard work down to?"

Rani swallows. "Yes."

"Well, I found you a new pledge."

…

 _The previous night, Mina Bonteri knocks on Naya's family's front door._

 _"Mrs. Devon?" Naya asks, opening the door. "Come in. Can I get you something to drink?"_

 _"No thank you, Naya. Is Fiona home?"_

 _Naya nods. "Yeah, and she looked over the stuff you gave her. Hey, Fiona! Mrs. Devon's back."_

 _The sound of crutches comes from down the hallway and Fiona hobbles into the room. "Hi, Mrs. Devon. How are you?"_

 _"I'm doing well. How does your ankle feel?" Mina asks, smiling._

 _"It's getting better, I guess." Fiona leans on her crutches. "I looked at the pamphlets you gave me and Naya's mom helped me with the loan paperwork. It looks good."_

 _"Sororities are a great place to experience college," Mina smiles. "And the University of Kuat is a lovely institution. Do you think you'd like to give it a try?"_

 _Fiona shrugs. "Well, I can't sleep on Naya's couch forever."_

…

"She's a very nice girl and she's excited for rush. You have a place for her?"

"I've got a bunk bed," someone announces.

"Excellent," Mina goes back to her breakfast. "I believe that closes our terms of surrender. How do you like the eggs?"

Before the girls can answer, Ahsoka clears her throat. "Actually, not yet. I just have one last question to ask you. Where's the best place to sell a ship?"

The girls look at each other. "This is Kuat. You're going to have to be more specific than that."

"Spice freighter," Sierra elucidates. "Pretty fast. Not super legal."

Rani raises an eye marking at Jenn. "Lando?"

"Lando," Jenn agrees. "There's this kid who wants to be a smuggler. He sometimes comes to the frat parties, and we have to throw him out. He's said something about wanting a ship."

"How is a kid going to buy a ship?" Hutch asks.

"He's about her age," Jenn points to Katooni. "But I know he has money."

…

"Look, I don't give a deal like this out to just anyone," Saw proposes. "I'd be willing to give you this for three thousand."

The boy casing out the ship shakes his head. "Three thousand? More like half that."

Saw leans on the wall. "You're killing me, kid. Twenty-five hundred."

"Didn't we get the thing for nine hundred from the police impound lot?" Hero whispers.

Steela nods. "Yeah. I think we're actually gonna turn a profit on _Piece of Crap."_

Lando, the kid, sets his jaw. "Two thousand, final offer."

Saw snorts. "Deal. And the money?"

Lando hands him a briefcase and Saw opens it. My eyes bug out.

"That's two thousand, right there." Lando smiles.

Saw blinks. "Alright, where did you steal this?"

"I didn't steal it. I _won_ it. Do you play sabaac?"

He does, but he's smart enough not to say anything. Saw digs the ship's access codes out of his pockets and tosses them to Lando.

"It's all yours, kid." He snorts.

"Great," Lando tests out the access codes. "Does it have a name?"

"Never got around to checking!" Saw announces as he walks away.

Lando waits until he's gone before he turns around to face his new ship, a smile on his face.

"There's one born every minute!" He cheers. Without even flying it, Lando can tell this ship is fast – faster than any other he's seen. Sure, it needs some work – new paint, and he needs to knock down some of these temporary walls which were put up to form bedrooms – but once the rooms are knocked down he'll have a fully functional cargo bay.

"No name, huh?" he asks the void, walking around to the hull where the ship's name is barely visible through the scratched, stained paint.

But Lando's careful and youthful eyes are better than those of the con men, who couldn't care less what the ship was named as long as it flew.

 _"Millenium Falcon,"_ he reads. "Well, it's as good a name as any."

 **STEELA**

Katooni stands in the middle of our new room, her hands held out at her sides.

"Space!" she cries, spinning in a circle. "Sweet, sweet space!"

"It's a miracle," Sierra agrees. "Look, I can reach all the way off my bed and still not touch Steela's!"

Speaking of my bed, I flop down on it. It feels heavenly. "You guys, thank you so much for moving my stuff for me."

"Oh, it was no problem. I like snooping," Katooni says before Sierra elbows her.

"How much of my stuff did you go through?"

Katooni hems and haws for a second, but a glance from Sierra sends her into silence. She sits down on her bed and grabs her sketchpad, flipping it to a work in progress.

"What are you drawing?" I ask.

"Your wedding," she turns the drawing so I can see. "It's a dinosaur theme."

"And why does my wedding have a dinosaur theme?" I ask, eyebrow raised.

"Stee-Rex," Katooni explains, grinning devilishly. "Like a T-Rex. But with you."

"You're never going to let this one go, aren't you?"

"She won't. And by the way, your birthday party isn't over," Sierra announces.

"What? Yeah, it is. My birthday was yesterday, and we had pancakes. Therefore, it's -."

 _"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"_

Spoke too soon. In a flash of sound, light, and bright color, the rest of my family files through the door. Tandin is holding a lit-up birthday cake, Rex on his heels with an armful of brightly-colored gifts.

"I hate you all."

"We know you do," Rex agrees, dumping the load of gifts on my lap.

"But we love you too much to skip your birthday." Hero continues.

Molly punctuates the sentence with a short "Ga."

"Blow out your candles, Aunt Steela!" Tav cries, practically shaking with excitement for the sugary birthday cake in Mina's hands.

"Alright, Tav." I close my eyes. "I'm making a wish."

I make a wish, blow, and twenty-one candles puff out.

…

"Open up your presents!" Tav shouts, hyped up on way too much sugar from birthday cake.

Ahsoka uses the one arm she's not using to feed Kiara to grab his shoulder. "Tav, calm yourself."

"He's right though," I grab the first wrapped present. "I've been wondering what's beneath this wrapping paper."

The presents start out normally enough: a bottle of wine from Lux and Ahsoka. A box of metal files from Saw. A bag of my favorite homemade candy from Hero, which was apparently "expertly wrapped" by Hutch. A birthday card from Tandin. And then, a small box.

 _To Steela from Mina_

I peek at Mina out of the corner of my eye while I tear off the wrapping paper. She sits still, ever-elegant, but the edges of her lips pull up with hope.

I lift the lid off the box, revealing a green, leaf-shaped, frosted glass charm. It's small. Simple. Not shiny enough to set off motion detectors.

"Do you like it?" Mina asks.

In that moment, the apprehension shatters and I realize what I should have known for years: that Mina expects nothing from me. When she nursed me through nysillin withdrawal and held Saw during the Purge, she was ready to become our second mother without taking an ounce of credit from the first.

Mina doesn't mind that I call her by her first name. She doesn't want me to start formal adoption proceedings. All she wants, all she's ever wanted, is to love and be loved.

"It's beautiful," I turn the box to show the new charm to the rest of my team. "I love it. Thank you, Mina."

Mina's smile grows, from her lips straight up to her eyes.

"You're very welcome," she says, barely able to speak through her grin.

"And this is the last one," Rex says, and hands me a palm-sized jewelry box.

Hero gasps. Katooni holds her hands to her mouth and squeals. My stomach drops to the floor.

 _Did Rex and I not just have a conversation about this? We agreed that before this relationship goes to the next level, we need to have a conversation so I'm not worried about him proposing to me in the 'fresher … or at my birthday party._

I steel myself for what I have to say to Rex. _I like you, I really do. I'm just not ready. I can't marry you – I can't marry anyone – until the Empire is defeated. I want to be able to celebrate marriage without having to worry about the Empire every waking moment._

Holding my breath, I open the jewelry box.

It's a plain silver bracelet, coiled on itself to fit the smaller box.

"You needed something to put your new charm on," Rex says, oblivious.

I breathe an enormous internal sigh of relief. "Thank you, Rex."

Sierra groans. "Well, that was anticlimactic."

"What?" Rex asks.

"Rexster," Ahsoka says, laying a hand on his shoulder. "You just gave Steela a jewelry box. An unwrapped jewelry box. Think back to those sappy holoromances Cupid made us watch, and -."

It hits him and Rex's face turns bright pink. "I'm so sorry! I thought it was wrapped enough already."

"You're forgiven." The look on the others' faces when they saw it wasn't an engagement ring was priceless enough to be an apology in itself.

Saw stands. "Well, the excitement's over. Happy birthday sis, but I'm hungry and I want grilled cheese."

"Hey! Throw a second one on for me," Sierra cries and jumps up to follow him.

"Grilled cheese!" Tav cheers, racing out after them with Ahsoka and Lux on his little heels.

Tandin and Mina look at each other.

"Well, we have to keep them from burning down the galley." Mina smiles. "Happy birthday, Steela. Hutch and Hero, what do you want for dinner?"

The sudden exodus for grilled cheese clears the room, leaving Rex and I alone.

"So, did you have a happy belated birthday?" he asks, still blushing over the faux pas with the jewelry box.

"Every day is a good day after we've finished a job. And yes, I did." I say, trying to put him at ease once again.

Rex's blush fades. "This definitely is better than watching our backs for a bunch of psychotic teenagers with Crazy Glue and a water tank."

"Oh, don't remind me. I'm just glad we moved and now that's all behind us."

Rex sits down next to me and leans against the wall. "It's an improvement over _Piece of Crap_ if I ever saw one. And I thought General Skywalker's freighter was precarious."

"Truer words have never been spoken," I copy his position so our heads are parallel. "How long do you think that rust bucket is going to last before it breaks down?"

"My best estimate?" he says. "It breaks down before you even want to steal something again."

"Ooh, then it's already broken down."

Rex raises an eyebrow. "We just finished a job. What could you possibly want to steal?"

"You."

"You want to steal me?"

"Not permanently," I jest. "Just for the evening."

"Well," Rex picks up one of my birthday gifts. "This is an excellent bottle of wine, and it's meant to be enjoyed with a companion."

"In private?"

"Why not?"

I crane my head to see the bottle's label.

"I think it says 'to be enjoyed with a companion, in private, somewhere where your family isn't one room over and threatens to interrupt you at any given moment'."

"I saw a nice park on the way to the fraternity," he suggests.

I get to my feet. "Sounds like a plan. I'll get the picnic blanket. Where did you see this – woah!"

In an instant, Rex grabs my hand, spins me around to face him, and plants a kiss on my lips.

"Your spontaneity doesn't end with making me wonder if you're going to propose to me in the fresher," I mutter. "But I don't mind this kind. Not at all."

"I'll get the wineglasses," Rex says, winks at me, and struts confidently out of the room.

…

In her bedroom, Mina Bonteri pretends not to hear Steela and Rex sneaking off the ship like teenagers in trouble. She just watches from her porthole as they walk out of the docks hand in hand, no doubt off to the beautiful park nearby. She can see Steela's new charm bracelet sparkle on her wrist.

Many years ago she and John had done the same, creeping down the fire escape of her dormitory to leave after lights-out, praying the creaking wouldn't wake anyone. Where they had gone after John lifted her down from the final landing was up to that night – a park, a restaurant, a club. Mina didn't remember much of the places themselves. All she remembered was John.

And later there was the meeting in her hospital room the day after Sierra was born. When the doctor came in, she and John were ecstatic. Mina had serious problems during the pregnancy, and despite preeclampsia, hospitalization, and being confined to bed rest until she had hit the all-important 37-week mark, she'd delivered a healthy baby girl.

But the doctor hadn't come to congratulate Mina on her Herculean effort, or to check baby Sierra for the thousandth time. The doctor sat with them quietly and informed them that after such a treacherous pregnancy, Mina Bonteri could not have any more children.

John barely had time to put their daughter into the bassinet before he and Mina burst into tears. They had always wanted a big family and to have it cut off so

suddenly was beyond cruel. The next time either one held their new daughter, they couldn't help feeling a pang that Sierra would be the last baby.

It took thirteen years for her other children to fall into her lap: Steela first, then Saw, Ahsoka, Hero, and finally Hutch, each driven into her arms by desperate need she was happy to fulfill.

She watched them rejoice at the end of a successful job and learn from their failures. She's seen them laugh when Hutch makes aliases with silly names or puts on a wacky playlist to lighten the mood. She's seen his joy at making his family laugh in the dark times.

She's watched Steela hold Sierra through nightmares, Sierra help Ahsoka when Tav was born, Ahsoka teach Hero the finer points of showering in thirty seconds, and Hero cook Steela's favorite foods when she was sick in bed.

She's watched Lux and Saw swear to dark and fearful gods that they will take their vengeance on Tarkin, Tor, and the Empire at large for what was done to their family.

She's watched them date, marry, and start their families, and she's happy to watch Rex and Steela go down that path together.

"Mom?" Lux calls from the other room. "Are you looking at something?"

But now, it's time to cover for the lovebirds.

"No, Lux. Just thinking, that's all."

 **Mina has her whole family together and prospering after the sorority war. And Rex and Steela, while not engaged, are at it again. (I have to credit MusicKeeper for the genius that is the name Stee-Rex).  
**

 **And yes, you read that right: _Piece of Crap_ is none other than the _Millennium Falcon._ I only wonder what the con men would think if they saw how famous Han Solo became with it!**

 **Thank you to Johnt12345, Starwarshobbitfics, MusicKeeper, TessaFred, and McAwsome for your reviews. And speaking of which, please review!**

 **Until next time,**

 **LS**


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